A look at Kwa Geok Choo (Mrs. Lee Kuan Yew) through the perspective of Peranakan culture.
This post is presented in 12 sections:
1. Peranakan Roots + Family Background
2. The Dragon Lady
3. Kwa Geok Choo’s Gold Coin Necklace
4. Images of Gold Coin Necklace
5. Peranakan Culture: General Info
6. Peranakan Culture: A Hidden Matriarchy
7. Peranakan Culture: Phoenix Symbol
8. Peranakan Culture: Females
9. Lee Kuan Yew on Kwa Geok Choo
10. Kwa Geok Choo: Intellect and Capabilities
11. Kwa Geok Choo: State Funeral
12. Kwa Geok Choo: Political Legacy
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1. PERANAKAN ROOTS + Family Background
1) Madam Kwa and her husband, the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew, both Peranakans, are featured in the Great Peranakans — Fifty Remarkable Lives exhibition.
Source: The Straits Times (2015)
2) . . .born to a well-to-do family, studied law as a Queen’s Scholar in England’s Cambridge University, [and] remained a deeply private person.
Source: Philly.com
Mrs and Mr LKY | Image from HerWorld
“Dragon Lady”: A woman of somewhat sinister glamour often perceived as wielding ruthless or corrupt power. (Dictionary.com)
Kwa Geok Choo was described as a “proverbial dragon lady” by a former senior correspondent for The Straits Times.
Francis Seow also referred to Kwa Geok Choo as a dragon lady (short version below; click here for the full-length interview):
Transcript:
The whole structure of government, from the time [Lee Kuan Yew] took office, to the present day, has been designed in such a way that his son will succeed him. And the son has succeeded him, you know?
Now in order to preserve that legacy that he has passed on now to his son, all the troublemakers have to be run out of town, to use an American expression. Behind all this grand scheme of things is. . .the word I’m looking for is. . .The Dragon Lady.
Lee Kuan Yew’s wife. She’s the one with the overweening ambition for her son to take over. She is the one who has been advising Lee Kuan Yew what to do, how to do it, etc.
Many people don’t know this.
Dowager Empress Cixi.
But I’m telling you today, the power behind the throne is the dowager. The dragon lady, if you like. And she is very smart! That is why all these guys have to get out of the way, and they had to be ruined. Or like me, driven out of the country. If I were to go back, I would go straight from the aeroplane to jail.
— Interview with Francis Seow (former solicitor-general of Singapore)
3. KWA GEOK CHOO’S GOLD COIN NECKLACE
Kwa Geok Choo’s gold coin necklace.
1) A nyonya and her jewellery are never apart. . . the display of opulence was not just a statement of wealth but also spoke volumes of their shrewdness and austerity.
Source: A Nyonya and Her Jewellery
2) For the 25th anniversary of Lee & Lee law firm in 1980, the firm’s partners had two gold coins specially made for the two senior partners, Mrs Lee Kuan Yew and Mr Dennis Lee.
Unbeknownst to them, Mrs Lee had a chain made for the coin, and would wear it as a necklace on special occasions and at formal functions.
Long after she left the firm, partners would glimpse the gold coin around her neck when her image appeared on TV or in newspaper pictures.
She was appearing at those formal functions as the wife of Singapore’s founding father. But the gold coin around her neck was a reminder that she was also a trailblazing legal luminary in her own right.
Source: Straits Times
4. IMAGES of KWA GEOK CHOO’s GOLD COIN NECKLACE
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- LKY Family Photo. Kwa Geok Choo is seated in front wearing the gold coin necklace.
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- In 1974, when Mr. and Mrs. Lee were back in Cambridge for PM Lee Hsien Loong’s convocation. (Pendant in similar gold coin style.)
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- OCT 21, 1978: PM and Mrs Lee with daughter Wei Ling.
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- Sketch of Mr and Mrs LKY by artist Siew Yan. Gold coin necklace on Mrs LKY.
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- Kwa Geok Choo with gold coin necklace and white cheongsam.
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- Kwa Geok Choo with gold coin necklace and blue top.
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- Kwa Geok Choo and gold coin necklace, with Lee Kuan Yew and son Lee Hsien Loong.
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- Clear image of gold coin necklace.
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- In 1968 with Emperor Hirohito and Empress Nagako in the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. Pendant in similar gold coin style (with Chinese “fu” character for fortune or good luck).
5. PERANAKAN CULTURE: General Info
1) The Baba Culture is one that is unique to the early settlers along the Straits of Malacca. Since the 17th Century, Chinese traders arrived and lived along these coastal lands bringing with them their wealth of wares, customs, traditions and religions from the south of China.
The off-springs of these ‘locally born Straits Chinese’ were called Peranakan Baba (or Nyonya for womenfolk).
With the arrival of the Europeans in the 18th Century to this part of the world, the Babas were quick to adapt to the changing environment. They became the compradors or ‘go-betweens’ for the Europeans and the locals. Many Baba men held office and important positions in the Portuguese, Dutch & British governments and they rose in status & stature to become successful businessmen who even took on leadership roles in society.
Source: The Main Wayang Company
President Yusof Ishak with Mrs. LKY’s Parents, Kwa Siew Tee (left) and Wee Yew Neo (right), 1968. | Image from NAS
- Note: Kwa Geok Choo’s father, Kwa Siew Tee, had several leadership roles (he was one of the founders of the OCBC Bank which he served as General Manager from 1935 to 1945, the Municipal Commissioner of the Colony of Singapore in 1947 and Public Service Commissioner in 1953). (Source: PDF download)
2) Peranakans were bilingual, speaking English as well as their dialect of Baba Malay, and embraced influences from various religions including Buddhism, Taoism, ancestral worship and Christianity.
6. PERANAKAN CULTURE: “A Hidden Matriarchy”
“Matriarch”: A woman who controls a family, group, or government. (Dictionary.com)
1) “While the males are out working to support the family, it is the females that preside the household. A hidden matriarchy, the Nyonya wives rule the household with an iron fist, managing and directing the day to day activities of the household and also controlling the funds in the family.”
Source: Women in the Peranakan Family
2) As someone who married into a Chinese/Peranakan family, [KMN’s] family does hold fast to one Perankan tradition: a powerful matriarchy. The women plan the gatherings, steer the families, and in my observations, usually have the first (and last) say on many matters of importance.
Source: I Married Into a Matriarchy
Source: ST
3) Chris reminded me that Peranakan families are ‘outwardly patriarchal and internally matriarchal’. Of course! Look at the Little Nyonya, scheming matrons obviously reigned over the households, pretending to be subservient to weak-minded husbands on the surface. Chris, who is Baba by the way and should be awarded some authority on the subject by way of relation, attests to the *fact* that the average Baba man is weaker than the Nyonya woman.
Source: Baba Bling: The Peranakan Museum
4) The portraits of matriarchs displayed above Peranakan Chinese altars in Malacca indicate the powerful position of the matriarch in ruling over the family. These Nyonyas came across as assertive, even bossy as they rose to the position as matriarchs in charge of running an extended family under one household. A mature Baba with great status and influence in the society would have to submit to an uncompromising mother at home.
7. PERANAKAN CULTURE: Phoenix Symbol
What appears to be a “Phoenix” motif on Mrs. LKY’s cheongsam. The bird has a crest of feathers on its head.
1) [Kelvin Pow] explains that the Peranakan culture is matriarchal, hence the phoenix rather than the dragon is the preferred embellishment in its decorative arts.
“I think it is very important that we retain our heritage. I think it is also important for people, especially younger Singaporeans to understand their culture and where they came from.”
Source: ST Jobs — House of Antiques
Nyonya porcelain featuring a phoenix motif, at the Peranakan Museum.
2) A typical motif used in nyonya porcelain ware is the Phoenix, a symbol of the matriarchal infrastructure of a Peranakan household.
Source: On the Trail of the Phoenix
3) The images above show the Peranakan traditional wedding costume donned on the bride. The geometric layering around her neck is the phoenix collar to symbolise the power of the feminine phoenix in Peranakan society.
Source: lonelytravelog (Peranakan Museum + Phoenix Collar)
a) Young Women
In contrast to her sheltered teenage years, the married Nyonya was given relatively more freedom. It was as if she had served her time, and was now qualified to manage a household and take care of herself.
As she gained more confidence in her dealings with her neighbours, friends and counterparts, her role was likened to that of the strong-willed managing director of a corporation. She controlled almost everything that happened at home.
In public, however, it was the husband who was seen to be the number one person.
Image from BBC / Getty
b) Keeping it within the Family
In the early days, the younger members of the community married among themselves. This desire to remain within the community was so strong that it was common for people to marry their relatives, even their cousins. The only restriction imposed involved unions between paternal cousins.
c) Colourful Metaphors
Be warned that Peranakans have a way with words. Eavesdrop on two Nyonyas having an animated conversation, and you will be in for a linguistic experience that is hard to forget.
Source: Asiapac Books (Gateway to Peranakan Culture)
d) Cooking + Sewing
“Peranakan families are matriarchal, though the nonya’s role is often seen as supportive to the husband – women are often expected to cook and sew well.”
Source: FRV Bali: Peranakan Museum SG
“She was a skilful knitter, and knitted us sweaters to stay warm, one after another.”
Source: Lee Hsien Loong on Mrs Lee Kuan Yew
9. LEE KUAN YEW on KWA GEOK CHOO
1) “Without her, I would be a different man, with a different life.”
— Lee Kuan Yew2) “. . .a discerning judge of character. She would tell me whether she would trust that man or not. And often she is right.”
Source: Straits Times
3) “My great advantage was I have a wife who could be a sole breadwinner and bring the children up. That was my insurance policy.”
Source: LKY: The Man and His Ideas, Page 235
Lee Kuan Yew and Kwa Geok Choo. Image: ST
4) “. . .[she’s my] tower of strength.”
Source: Philly.com
5) “Over the years I’ve been a kept man. My wife keeps the family.”
Source: Lee Kuan Yew in Parliament, 1985
6) Lee Kuan Yew discussed the possibility of euthanasia with his doctors and family in his final years as he struggled with illness and mourned the death of his wife.
Associate professor Michael Barr, who has studied and published on Singapore, said Lee had been left lost and distraught following the death of his wife, Kwa Geok Choo, in 2010, to whom he had been married for 60 years.
Source: South China Morning Post
10. KWA GEOK CHOO’S INTELLECT and CAPABILITIES
1) The late Madam Kwa, wife of Singapore’s former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, was undoubtedly an excellent Peranakan woman, steel clothed in velvet, as Peranakan women were known to be!
Source: Passage Magazine by FOM.sg (PDF download)
2) Mrs Lee Kuan Yew was the firm’s ‘intellectual mind‘, while Mr Dennis Lee took care of the business side of things.
Mrs Lee’s personality, according to one prominent lawyer who declined to be named, is best summed up in the way she always dressed impeccably in a cheongsam to work, but would change into rubber flip-flops once there.
White cheongsam worn by Kwa Geok Choo. Image: Peranakan Museum.
‘When we heard her walk around in the flip-flops, I would joke that that is power,’ he said. ‘Power in rubber flip-flops.’
Source: Straits Times
3) In 1940, Geok Choo entered Raffles College where, to Kuan Yew’s consternation, she beat him in the English and Economics examinations.
They married while in Cambridge, and graduated together with first class honours degrees in 1949. Geok Choo did it in two years; he in three. She was the first woman in Malaya to get a first class honours law degree.
Lee Kuan Yew and his wife, Kwa Geok Choo in 1968. Photo: Benson Lo
Though she opted to stay in the political background and play the role of supportive wife, she was a founding member of the People’s Action Party (PAP). She was highly skilled in legal draftmanship, helping to draft the PAP Constitution, and later the crucial provisions that guaranteed Singapore’s continued water supply when Singapore separated from Malaysia.
Source: Singapore Women’s Hall of Fame
4) Standing proudly atop its box on the third floor of the Peranakan Museum, the barrister’s wig that belonged to the late Madam Kwa Geok Choo (21 December 1920 – 2 October 2010) is very much a tribute not only to its erstwhile owner, but also to the era’s fledgling coterie of able Peranakan women.
Kwa Geok Choo’s barrister’s wig.
Source: Passage Magazine by FOM.sg (PDF download)
5) Known for her attention to detail, Kwa Geok Choo once interrupted the taping of an interview to touch up [Lee Kuan Yew’s] hair and makeup.
Source: Straits Times
11. KWA GEOK CHOO: STATE FUNERAL
From the Press Statement from the PM’s office on the passing of Mrs. Lee Kuan Yew:
The family requests that no obituaries and no wreaths or flowers to be sent. All donations will go to the National Neuroscience Institute (NNI) Health Research Endowment Fund.
Kwa Geok Choo was given a heroine’s funeral:
The glass-encased brown coffin of Kwa Geok Choo, who died aged 89 on Saturday after a long illness, was transported to a suburban crematorium on a ceremonial gun carriage normally reserved for state and military funerals.
Casket of Mrs. LKY
The government said the usage of a ceremonial gun carriage “is in recognition of her exceptional and unique contributions to Singapore for more than five decades, beginning before Singapore became independent.”
12. KWA GEOK CHOO: POLITICAL LEGACY
Mr. and Mrs. Lee Kuan Yew. Image: CNA
Her political legacy runs deep.
In 1959, she delivered her first and only party political broadcast during the general election that year, urging women to vote for the PAP. She was the only English-speaking woman in the party who had the requisite firmness and conviction for the broadcast.
‘I have been proof-reading and sometimes correcting [Lee Kuan Yew’s] speeches from his earliest 1950 speech to the Malayan Forum in London,’ she told The Straits Times in 1998.
The early history of the People’s Action Party (PAP) also bears the stamp of her involvement.
‘Who else would have drafted that Constitution for them?’ she said. ‘My husband doesn’t draft things. He was an advocate; he was a court lawyer.’
Drafting the rules of a society, by contrast, was her speciality.
Source: Straits Times
MORE INFO:
This blog post has a family tree of Kwa Geok Choo’s relatives holding government positions in Singapore.
