Taiwan on Saturday sent off its first democratically elected president, Lee Teng-hui, in a farewell ceremony of the highest order, with incumbent President Tsai Ing-wen offering an unprecedented tribute to the late leader.

The last time Taiwan lost a leader, in 1988, students were forced to sink to their knees and cry along the route where his funeral cortège passed.

The contrast with Saturday’s proceedings could not be clearer, testifying to democratic advancement on the self-ruled island, which Lee had brought out of the grip of authoritarian rule and helped become one of the most progressive and pluralistic democracies in Asia.

He died of septic shock and multiple organ failure in Taipei on July 30 at the age of 97, after having been in hospital over the previous six months.

“On behalf of the people of Taiwan, I would like to say thank you to former president Lee,” Tsai said during the ceremony. “May the spirit of former president Lee forever live in Taiwan, always be with us and guide the country and its people.”

Other participants in the ceremony included the United States Under Secretary of State Keith Krach and former Japanese prime minister Yoshiro Mori. Former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe wrote the eulogy, while the Dalai Lama made a video in memory of the late president.

“When I first met him in Taipei, he said hello to me, and I responded to him in this way. Since then, we have become friends,” the religious leader said in the video.

Krach was the second highest ranking U.S. official to visit Taiwan since Washington severed diplomatic ties with the island 41 years ago.

Lee’s funeral service will be held on Oct. 7 according to full-dress state funeral protocol. All public agencies are to fly a flag at half-mast that day.

Oftentimes called the “Philosopher King of Taiwan,” Lee succeeded general Chiang Ching-kuo after the latter’s death in 1988 and served as the president of Taiwan until 2000.

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