Lee Hsien Loong honours Henry Kissinger at memorial, hails him as ‘great statesman’

SINGAPORE: On Thursday (25 January), Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong paid his respects to the late American diplomat Dr Henry Kissinger at a memorial service, expressing that it was his “privilege and honor” to have known him.

“It was with great sadness that Ho Ching and I bid a final farewell to former US secretary of state, Dr Henry Kissinger, at his memorial service in New York.”

“We offered our heartfelt condolences to Mrs Nancy Kissinger and their family,” said PM Lee in a Facebook post on Friday.

PM Lee highlighted Dr. Kissinger as “a great statesman who left a lasting mark on the world” and emphasized the close friendship between Dr Kissinger and Singapore, describing him as a dear friend to both himself and his late father.

PM Lee is in New York City for a working visit from 24 to 27 January.

“Over the years, I have benefitted from Dr Kissinger’s wise counsel, incisive insights and curiosity about the world,” PM Lee shared.

PM Lee expressed his admiration for Dr Kissinger’s unwavering commitment to the United States’ duty in upholding global peace and stability, noting his lifelong dedication to continuous learning, even in cutting-edge areas like artificial intelligence.

“He will be remembered and respected for his strategic foresight and wisdom.”

“It was my privilege and honour to have known him,” said PM Lee.

The friendship between PM Lee’s father, the late Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, and Dr Kissinger traces back to their initial meeting at Harvard University in the 1960s, a bond that persisted over the decades.

In 2015, Dr Kissinger journeyed to Singapore to pay his respects at Mr Lee’s state funeral.

Kissinger’s controversial past

Dr Kissinger, who was a national security adviser and secretary of state under two US presidents, died at his home in Connecticut on 29 November last year. He was 100.

While Kissinger enjoyed a certain level of respect within the political mainstream, his death has reignited discussions about his controversial philosophy of realpolitik, a doctrine marked by cold calculations of national interests through power.

Kissinger’s involvement in several geopolitical events has sparked debates about his role in war crimes.

Despite receiving the Nobel Peace Prize for negotiations to end the Vietnam War, his actions in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Chile, Bangladesh, East Timor, and Argentina have been heavily criticized.

Some of his most egregious actions were the bombing campaigns in Cambodia and Laos during the Vietnam War.

Historian Greg Grandin of Yale University, author of “Kissinger’s Shadow,” estimates that during the brief eight-year period from 1969 to 1976, Kissinger, while serving as National Security Adviser and Secretary of State under Presidents Nixon and Ford, was responsible for actions leading to the deaths of three to four million people.

Kissinger oversaw the killing of millions in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos between 1969 and 1973.

This includes acts of commission, such as in Cambodia, where he directed all 3,875 bombing raids that intentionally targeted civilians and endorsed Indonesia’s violence in East Timor, Pakistan’s in Bangladesh, and the U.S. pattern of involving and then forsaking the Kurds.

The outcome of his directions included collateral damage leading to the deaths of thousands of civilians and unintended repercussions, notably the emergence of the genocidal Khmer Rouge.

Another lasting impact is that Laos continues to hold the unfortunate distinction of being the most heavily bombed country in global history.

In Chile, according to declassified records, Kissinger had a significant role in coordinating the 1973 coup supported by the United States, which resulted in the overthrow of Salvador Allende’s socialist government and the installation of the authoritarian Augusto Pinochet.

During Pinochet’s harsh 16-year rule, thousands were killed, and tens of thousands endured torture under his brutal regime.

Kissinger additionally assisted the Pakistani dictator Yahya Khan in the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, facilitating the widespread killing of an estimated 300,000 to 3 million individuals.

He turned a blind eye to Pakistan’s large-scale atrocities as Bangladesh achieved independence in 1971, believing the US interest was keeping Islamabad as the quiet go-between with China.

In the East Timor conflict of 1975, Kissinger sanctioned and supplied weaponry to Suharto, the Indonesian dictator, during his genocidal invasion.

This military campaign resulted in the deaths of more than 200,000 Timorese through acts of massacre and forced starvation, concluding only when Indonesia concluded its occupation in 1999.

In 1976, Kissinger granted preliminary approval to Argentina’s right-wing military junta for their “dirty war” against leftists, leading to the brutal murder, torture, and disappearance of more than 30,000 people.

Despite the extensive list of accusations against Kissinger, he has never faced serious legal repercussions.

This provides just a glimpse of the comprehensive catalogue of Kissinger’s transgressions, and new revelations continue to emerge each year.

“While Kissinger continues to be honored and held in high regard by the mainstream political establishment, it’s clear that he should be rightfully remembered as one of the biggest mass murderers in history,” said one news outlet in a video.