Living the Asian Century: An Undiplomatic Memoir
Kishore Mahbubani
PublicAffairs: 2024
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Kishore Mahbubani is no stranger to Singaporeans, intellectuals and the elite commentariat in the region. The former diplomat has served as the Permanent Secretary of Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, twice as Singapore’s Permanent Representative to the UN and was the founding dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.

These days, he’s more well-known for his polemics against Western hypocrisies and his fervent promotion of the “Asian Century”. It’s no surprise when the first chapter of his memoir, Living the Asian Century: An Undiplomatic Memoir, starts off with the line “Blame it all on the damn British”, referring to the Partition of British India in 1947 and the chain of events that brought his family to Singapore. As far as book subtitles go, “an undiplomatic memoir” appears to fulfil its ambit by the very first page.

• Tags: Isaac Neo, Issue 38, Kishore Mahbubani, Singapore