SINGAPORE: Singapore gained independence in 1965 but only set up a formal foreign service in 1972, after founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew doubted enough people would want to join, said former diplomatic stalwart Professor Tommy Koh.
It took him a year to convince Mr Lee of the need for a professional foreign service to manage international relations and deliver consular services, rather than seconding staff from other ministries.
“We had no foreign service when I joined. When I came back from the UN in 1971, we still had no foreign service,” said Prof Koh, who was Singapore’s permanent representative to the United Nations from 1968 to 1971.
The 88-year-old retired from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) last month after 55 years, during which he served as Singapore’s permanent representative to the UN, ambassador to the United States and, most recently, ambassador-at-large.
In an interview with CNA at the National University of Singapore’s Centre for International Law, where he is board chairman, Prof Koh recounted his exchange with Mr Lee.
“He said: ‘Tommy, which ambitious young man or woman would join such a small service? You join the civil service, admin service, you have many opportunities,’” recalled Prof Koh.
He replied that “there are some people who are attracted to this kind of life”, stressing that “every country needs a foreign service, we need institutional memory, we need intellectual capacity”. Mr Lee was eventually convinced.
Singapore was “never prepared for independence”, and its first generation of ambassadors were “borrowed from various parts of Singapore” and thrown into the deep end, said Prof Koh.
He himself was 30 years old and teaching law when he left for the UN as ambassador. “We learnt on the job, and we collectively contributed to the founding principle of our foreign policy,” he said.
Prof Koh has worked with every foreign minister in Singapore’s history, and said the one who left the deepest mark on him was the first, S Rajaratnam, who held the role from 1965 to 1980.
“He had the greatest impact on my thinking, practice of diplomacy. But every subsequent minister brought something to the table, and I learnt from every one of them,” said Prof Koh.
Another principle Prof Koh took from his encounters with Mr Lee is that “small countries have no inherent relevance to the world”.
“So it is Singapore’s perpetual karma to be relevant and useful to other countries and to the world,” he said.
This is among the core principles guiding Singapore’s foreign policy: protecting its sovereignty and territorial integrity, expanding its economic and political space, making the maximum number of friends and fewest enemies, and that it is not without agency despite being a small country, said Prof Koh.
“We mustn’t adopt the attitude that we have no choice but to submit to the great powers and to bigger countries,” he said.
These guiding principles have stood the test of time, said Prof Koh.
“Of course, over time, the role we play in the world differs. In the beginning, we were learning, observing, trying to understand how the world worked, how the international system worked,” he said.
“Later on, as we became more mature, we were able to contribute back to the system. And now, I would say Singapore is highly respected at the UN and in the world, and we give a lot back to the world.”
LOOKING BACK ON 55 YEARS
Prof Koh said he feels well and happy, and looks back on his time in the foreign service with great satisfaction.
One key trait foreign service officers must have, he said, is to “believe in Singapore”.
“We believe in defending Singapore’s national interest. But at the same time, we want Singapore to be a good citizen of the world,” said Prof Koh.
This means Singapore steps up whenever called upon to be a neutral chairman, facilitator or special envoy, to the extent it can.
Prof Koh recalled that when the UN asked him to be a special envoy to make peace between Russia and Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in 1993, the Singapore government was supportive of the decision.
“My government said ‘please do it’, although it took me to a part of the world I was completely not familiar (with),” he said.
He also recalled chairing two World Trade Organization dispute panels, despite not being a trade lawyer. In these ways, Singapore tries to give back to the system, said Prof Koh.
Prof Koh’s greatest challenge in moving from academia to diplomacy was reconciling theory with practice.
“You may believe that international law is the most important thing in the world. But when you’re at the UN and you saw how the Soviet Union completely ignored international law, invaded Czechoslovakia, overthrew the government, then you realise the world is more complicated than we taught our students in law school,” he said.
“So the challenge for me in the last 55 years is: how do I reconcile theory and practice? Not to give up and be cynical, but to be pragmatic and idealistic at the same time.”
Despite a storied career, Prof Koh counts something more personal as a highlight of his life: marrying his wife, Dr Poh Siew Aing.
“I will be eternally grateful to her for being willing to sacrifice a medical career to support me and to support the children,” said Prof Koh. They have two sons.