Obituary: Lim Kim San

Former Cabinet MInister Lim Kim San, 89, was best known for providing low-cost homes for thousands of Singaporeans in the 1960s. Prime Minister Lee Hsien praised Lim as "one of the founding fathers who created modern Singapore" and said his death was a deep loss to the nation.

Lim studied economics at Raffles College and was a self-made millionaire before being appointed chairman of the new Housing and Development Board in 1960, serving in the post as a volunteer for three years. During that time, Lim oversaw the building of 26,000 low-cost public apartments, improving the conditions of hundreds of thousands of people who had previously lived in slums.

He was the first Singaporean to receive the country's highest honour, The Order of Temasek, for that achievement. "The public housing that he successfully launched in the 1960s gave hope to all who were then living in urban hovels,"

President S. Nathan said in a condolence statement. "No monument can be more appropriate for Mr Lim Kim San than the HDB apartments that have sprung up all over Singapore, where more than 80 per cent of our people live."