Singaporeans mourn longtime leader Lee Kuan Yew

Singaporeans on Monday started seven days of mourning for their longtime leader Lee Kuan Yew, the wealthy nation's founding father who died over the weekend aged 91 following repeated bouts of pneumonia.

"He's my idol," Lua Su Yean, a 55-year-old homemaker standing near the display of flowers and cards left by Singaporeans at the hospital where Lee spent the last weeks of his life, told the Associated Press.

"He's done such great things and there's nothing bad I can say about him," she said."My children grew up listening to my stories about him, and my grandchildren as well."

Lee is credited with transforming the resource-poor island into a center for finance and trade with low crime and little corruption. But he led the country with an iron grip and was as much feared as respected.

The period of mourning will culminate in a state funeral on Sunday and his body will lie in state at the nation's parliament from Wednesday.