Singapore’s Kishore Mahbubani Answering Questions from the Audience by Da Hsuan Feng, April 23, 2023

Kishore who is of Indian descent, and was born and grew up in Singapore. Before his association with the National University of Singapore, where for quite sometime he was the Director of the now world-renowned Lee Kuan Yew Institute of Public Policies, he was a career Singapore diplomat. The height of his career was undoubtedly when he became Singapore’s Ambassador to the United Nations, and during which, for 2 years between 2001 and 2002, he was President of the United Nations Security Council.

It is therefore not surprising that except for one local Singaporean academic, all other questioners spoke English with a German accent. Presumably they are all German ex-pats in Singapore. I think of the many forums Kishore was involved in, I have never seen the questions “fired” at him with such intensity and variety. I have also not seen one where in every case, the answer was clearly and succinctly delivered, without any hesitations.

It was indeed gratifying to observe how Kishore answered them with calm, respect and with deep understanding and clarification of the geopolitical situation. His sometimes use of historical context was certainly heartwarming.

As a Singaporean, I am extremely proud to see that the voice of Singapore is being projected on the world stage with such profound clarity!