A five-minute primer on an issue making headlines
The all-powerful Lee family has been at the helm of Singapore's transformation from a seedy colonial port into one of the world's strongest economies. They sound like an extremely talented bunch?
It would seem so. The elder statesman is 82-year-old Lee Kuan Yew, who served as its first prime minister for 31 years until 1990. He has remained in government ever since, first as senior minister, and for the past two years under the title 'minister mentor'.
The present prime minister is the elder of his two sons, Lee Hsien Loong, whose wife, Ho Ching, runs a powerful government investment arm, Temasek Holdings. Another son, Lee Hsien Yang, is president and chief executive officer of the island state's largest company, SingTel.
Lee Kuan Yew appears to have played an enormous role in Singapore's transformation.
There is no doubt he was the main man. Educated as a lawyer at Cambridge University, he returned home to form the People's Action Party (PAP). He led Singapore into the Malaysian Federation four years later before achieving full independence in 1965. Over the next three decades, Mr Lee oversaw what many regard as an economic miracle.
But hasn't this economic success come at the expense of democratic freedoms?