Do we like them?

Do we like Lee Kuan Yew?

Our score: 4 out of 10. Built a clean, housed, prosperous Singapore and spoke kindly of gay people, but jailed and sued his critics and never changed the anti-gay law.

The upside is the one every obituary leads with: public housing for a nation that started out in slums, a famously clean public service, safe streets, good schools and a determined greening of the island. Coverage in 2015 credited him with an efficient government with little corruption. That is real good done for ordinary people, and it counts.

The downside is how he got there. Obituaries and rights groups noted that he jailed political opponents without trial, launched defamation suits against critics and journalists, and insisted limits on speech and protest were needed for stability. Human Rights Watch said his economic record came at a significant cost for human rights. His defenders say the country was fragile and the tough line kept it together; his critics say it stunted opposition for decades.

On gay people, the picture is more surprising than you'd expect from a man tied to so-called Asian values. Reportedly in 2007 he questioned why homosexuality should be criminalised, and in his 2011 book he said it was genetic and would eventually be accepted. Reports at the time said he would accept a gay grandchild. [Words only, though.]

Nothing fresh to report on the man himself. The long-running Lee family row over the family home at Oxley Road, which he reportedly wanted demolished, still rumbles on and has nothing to do with his own record. I couldn't open full articles in this run, so this leans on search summaries: treat it as a sketch, not the final word.

Put it together and it's not a villain or a hero story. He did a great deal of practical good for a lot of people, spoke more kindly about gay people than most leaders of his era, and also ran a system that squeezed out dissent. Where you land depends on whether you weigh the housing or the jailed rivals more heavily.