Elon Musk praises the first prime minister of Singapore as ‘brilliant’ in response to a glowing blog post about the country’s airport

Elon Musk said that Singapore’s first prime minister, touted as the country’s founding father, was a “brilliant” man.

On Thursday, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO reposted a blog piece by newsletter writer George Mack, who praised Lee Kuan Yew’s foresight and immigration policies.

Mack wrote about Lee’s efforts in conceiving Singapore’s Changi Airport, which has been named the world’s best airport 12 times by London-based research firm Skytrax.

“He was brilliant,” Musk wrote of Lee.

This is not the first time Musk has lauded the late prime minister. He previously called Lee a “genius” for installing air-conditioning units in public service buildings to boost productivity in the humid, tropical country.

To be sure, Singapore also draws critique on the global stage on topics including its policies towards low-income workers, freedom of speech, and human rights issues relating to the LGBTQ+ communities.

Lee served as prime minister from 1959 to 1990 and died in 2015.

Here are three things to know about the man credited for building up the prosperous Southeast Asian country:

Before Singapore’s Changi Airport became operational in 1981, the island state had a small commercial airport located inland on the east side of Singapore, called Paya Lebar Airport.

While efforts had begun to expand Paya Lebar Airport, Lee envisioned a much bigger airport located on the coast of the island, which could be expanded in the future by reclaiming land from the sea.

“By mid 1970s, it was clear that Paya Lebar Airport would not be able to cope with the growing traffic for much longer,” Lee said in 2006, at Changi Airport’s 25th anniversary dinner. “We needed a bigger airport, with at least two runways.”

The new Changi Airport was planned to be five times bigger than its predecessor. And Lee wanted the airport to be an extension of Singapore’s image as a garden city, The Business Times reported in 2015.

He wanted a lot of trees planted and said that he wished to “see a jungle” when driving from the city to the airport, located on the island’s easternmost tip.

As of 2024, the airport has four functioning terminals with a fifth expected to open in the mid 2030s.

In 2023, it saw passenger traffic of 58.9 million people. Skytrax called it one of the “busiest passenger hubs” for Southeast Asia.