League nder sA pore; Wool dress: Jil pore; Wool A ing of s egis egis r t s uite, s A tion: Astori A oc l ee; HerCHAN HENG CHEE, recipientOwn of this year’s l SINGAPORE TATLER LEADERSHIP AWARD FOR enneth k LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT, TELLS HONG XINYI HOW HER ke-up: WORLDVIEWS HAVE EVOLVED AFTER 16 YEARS IN THE US A ir & m hA hio; t teve s PhotograPhy: LioneL Lai/acePix & styling: direction Art and not establishment views, so I was surprised by the ambassadorship offer. But let’s be clear: I “When we think of the term ‘ bridge’ have never been a rabid anti-government person in Asia, for me, the model of this iplomat, academic, humanitarian, – there is a difference. And I’m a political scientist; one of my colleagues said to me then, “You need to bridge is ambassador Chan. More role model. Chan Heng Chee has have to have your head examined if you turn this down.” It was a chance to see theory in action, a than anyone I’ve worked with over worn many hats and is no stranger very exciting opportunity. to accolades and high-profile awards. ST: have your political views changed over the years? the course of the past 20 years, she’s CHC: Over time, I have become more centrist. But this glittering career was not When you start writing in your 20s, you’ve only been the person I’ve turned to for read so much and seen the world so much. Then advice on how to be more effective in our diplomacy, something she envisioned as a girl; she history unfolds – there are global developments, once dreamed of being an air stewardess, new theories, and you observe. There’s nothing how to be softer in some of our engagement with wrong with that. John Maynard Keynes once said: a social worker, and even a librarian. “If the facts change, I change my conclusions.” I Asian friends and how to build those ties that are know so much now that I didn’t before, and I am more humbled by that. so essential.” ST: Did being in the US during 9/11 inform your views Kurt Campbell, US assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, Before embarking on a career in foreign about the balance between civil liberties and security? who presented Chan with the Asia Society’s inaugural Diplomatic Achievement relations – with a stint from 1989 to 1991 CHC: I didn’t need 9/11; I come from a world that Award in June 2012 as Singapore’s representative to the United is very different. I saw Southeast Asia go through Nations (un), while concurrently serving as many changes, like the Vietnam War and the high commissioner to Canada and ambassador post-Sukarno era. These things inform your own to Mexico – Chan headed the Department of elhi theories about social change. Governments must d Political Science at the National University of W be accountable, transparent, non-corrupt, and e Singapore, and was the founding director of the n work for the welfare of the people. They must be Institute of Policy Studies in the 1980s. From 1991 ssy democratic in spirit. As for the particular forms, BA m e to 1996, she served as executive director of the I am open. Singapore International Foundation and director us ST: is it difficult to put these views across in a are in conflict. No country wants to choose ell: of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. B culture where civil liberties can be viewed as between them, and I believe the US has gotten The first female ambassador to the US from mp very important? that message. cA an East Asian country, Chan’s 16-year tenure also CHC: When speaking with the Americans about urt urt made her Singapore’s longest-serving ambassador k these issues, they cannot deny that Singapore Signature Style to a single country. In her years in Washington has been a success – the population is educated, ST: in Dc, you were known for hosting lively dinner dc, she played a key role in landmark bilateral housed and has good healthcare. The people here parties. What are the signatures of a chan heng hoto of hoto p initiatives such as the 2003 Free Trade Agreement ; have jobs and a future. Whether you see processes chee dinner party? dc and the 2005 Strategic Framework Agreement. as important just in themselves or not, outcomes CHC: I pull together an interesting group, about Her departure from her post in July this year was are important. 18 to 20 people, and we will have an interesting marked by two months of farewell parties and ST: conversation about current issues. I was used shington shington how do you see bilateral ties between the US and numerous awards, including the inaugural Foreign A Singapore evolving as china becomes increasingly to running seminars as a professor, so this came Policy Outstanding Diplomatic Achievement dominant in asia? naturally to me. Some ambassadors have tried pore, W Award and the United States Navy Distinguished A CHC: All the countries in this region are trying the same thing, and they don’t quite manage it Public Service Award. of us Singaporeans studying abroad at the time felt to manage this pull. Singapore wants good because they don’t have the same background. I diplomatic ing Now back in Singapore as ambassador-at-large that we had to go home – we had to help to build pioneer s relationships with both, and I believe our manage the conversation, get everybody talking Then incoming with the Foreign Ministry, among other new roles, this nation. Even before that, I knew I wanted to lic of diplomacy is good enough to achieve that. It and, mind you, I’m watching the waiters at the the 70-year-old says she has no plans on retiring do something in the public sector. It was the way ambassador B doesn’t benefit anyone if the two great powers same time, making sure everything goes smoothly. Chan presenting epu just yet. “I’m fit. I don’t feel my age. Haven’t I was brought up. As a student in Katong Convent her credentials to r Getting the right mix of people is the secret, and you heard that the 60s of today are the 40s of and Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus, the financial then-president that’s an art. You have to have a taste for people. But yesterday, and the 50s are the 30s?” sector was not what we talked about. Clinton in 1996 all my guests wouldn’t be at the table if they didn’t ssy of the Singapore tatler poses 16 questions to the ST: you’ve described yourself as “anti-establishment” BA “She was a giant in the diplomatic know their stuff. And it relates back to my work in m indefatigable Chan, on where the past 16 years and said that the ambassadorship offer “came as e more ways than you know. It’s very important, but have taken her and what lies ahead. something of a shock”. Why did you accept it? hee: community who spent her long service I’m not going to give away trade secrets. c CHC: Cornell was a liberal college, and I was there st: you were the first woman frome ast asia to be eng SINGAPORE TATLER: “i belong to the lucky generation; during the Vietnam War era, when there was h to Singapore building bridges between permanent representative at the Un and ambassador n A we had purpose and mission thrust upon us.” how a lot of questioning of authority. The thinking h to the US. how do you feel about being a pioneer? c Singapore and the US and the rest would you describe this mission? was often quite radical and progressive. I wasn’t nd CHC: Once you have been first in something, it A CHAN HENG CHEE: I left Singapore to pursue graduate comfortable with some of it, and I remember of the world. She will be a model for tends to keep happening because you are ahead studies at Cornell University on August 10, 1965, arguing with friends and professors that they of the game. I was also one of the first women in linton linton just one day after Singapore separated from were maybe a bit unfair and getting too carried c ambassadors from all across the globe the political science honours class at the then- Malaysia. Throughout the course of my studies, I away. I tend to be quite centred, but I did come University of Singapore. stayed in touch with what was going on back home; back from my studies more left of centre. As an and will be missed in Washington.” Every woman ambassador has been asked I wrote my thesis on the politics of survival. Most academic, I had written pieces that were critical of Bill hoto American “superlobbyist” Tony Podesta about this. I look forward to the day when it is no p hong kong tatler 4 june 2007 hong kong tatler 5 june 2007 brought this out more. There was a recent Wall Street Journal article about how people lose restraint when they enter into anonymity. There are also such strong sentiments against foreigners working in Singapore now, and that sharpens “Ambassador Chan regaled us with ethnic differences. This is not good for Singapore. stories of her time in Katong Convent We are a city-state without a hinterland. To survive and prosper, we must be linked to the more than 50 years ago, where she world.