Video of Lee Kuan Yew saying 'love at first sight' is a 'grave mistake' goes viral again

SINGAPORE: When a video of founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew’s views on love, particularly love at first sight, was shared online recently, it went viral yet again.

The clip was shared on the TikTok account of Simple小日子 (@qywm2i7), perhaps to a younger generation who had never heard his famous quote on love before.

Mr Lee had sat down with journalists from The Straits Times for a series of interviews from 2008 and 2009, the material that formed the book Lee Kuan Yew: Hard Truths to Keep Singapore Going, published in early 2011, along with a DVD containing the interviews.

It provides insight into the most famous Singaporean leader’s character and the hard choices he had to make along the way in making the city-state what it is today.

But back to love at first sight.

One of the journalists said that a question had come in asking if Mr Lee believed in love and love at first sight.

The straight-shooting Mr Lee said with a slight chuckle, “I don't believe in love at first sight. I think it's a grave mistake. You're attracted by physical characteristics, and you will regret it.”

The TikToker wrote in the caption, “Love can start from the first heartbeat, but a long-term relationship requires time, understanding, and shared experience. What do you think of a sentence from decades ago today?”

In the interview, Mr Lee went on to say that he married someone whom he had known for a long time, although he had not been interested in her romantically when they were classmates at Raffles College, because at the time, he had been too young and preoccupied with work.

“But she told me later she was interested in me,” Mr Lee said with a smile.

He saw her again during the war, and because there was time on his hands and she struck him as “a nice girl,” they struck up a friendship and their relationship gradually developed.

“I think I made the right choice. And with every passing year, we adjusted to each other, until now. Even our habits have become the same. That’s life,” he said to the journalists.

In 1946, Mr Lee went to the United Kingdom for further studies. Before he left, he asked his beloved, Kwa Geok Choo, to wait for him. Madam Kwa followed him to Britain a year later, having won a scholarship to read law.

The couple secretly got married in December of that year—a secret that was never revealed until Mr Lee wrote his life story much later on. 

In September 1950, they got married once again and held the reception at the Raffles Hotel.

When one of the journalists asked about his secret marriage, Mr Lee explained that both he and his wife had come from old-fashioned families, and therefore did not want to have an illicit liaison. However, because of Mdm Kwa’s scholarship and because Mr Lee’s tutor would not have been pleased, they kept their marriage a secret.  /TISG

Read also: Lee Kuan Yew & Kwa Geok Choo: A tribute to their love story this Valentine's Day