Encouraging support for hospitalised Singapore’s first prime minister

PETALING JAYA: Republicans are hoping Singapore's founding father Lee Kuan Yew, 91-year-old who is admitted at the Singapore General Hospital on Feb 5 for severe pneumonia will recover soon.
Lee Hsien Loong, the current prime minister of Singapore and Lee Kuan Yew's son, posted an update on his Facebook page, accompanied by a family photo taken in 2013 that showed a cheerful looking minister mentor flanked by PM Lee, his spouse and eldest son during Chinese New Year.
"Visited my father in hospital this morning. Did not see him on the first day of the New Year, on the advice of doctors (both his and mine).
"This is the first year in a long while that we could not attend the Lee family reunion dinner," the younger Lee wrote.
The posting has since garnered almost 54,000 "likes" since today.
Responding to well-wishers, PM Lee said he is grateful for the support shown and thanked the public for their good wishes for his father's recovery.
A statement released by the Prime Minister's office on Saturday, stated that the senior Lee's condition had stabilised and that he remains on mechanical ventilation in the ICU (Intensive Care Unit).
"He is conscious and lightly sedated.
"His doctors are continuing to monitor his condition," it added.
For the past few decades, the former prime minister's health has slowly declined with numerous hospitalisations due to cardiac complications. He was diagnosed with neural impairment in 2011, which has prevented him from attending a number of public events in recent months.
Lee was also hospitalised in February last year due to an infection.
He presently remains an MP for Tanjong Pagar but retired from advisory duties for the government in 2011. He took up the Minister Mentor role in 2004.
He served as prime minister from 1965 to 1990, a leadership that spanned 35 years, and is widely recognised as the founding father of modern Singapore.