What effects – if any – has the watershed election in 2011 had on Singapore politics? Might local political developments affect Singapore’s actions abroad? How should Singapore conduct its foreign policy in light of the rise of new global powers, and the (re-) emergence of increasingly fractious territorial disputes in our neighbourhood?These are some of the key questions that Singaporean thinkers and policymakers have considered and will continue to grapple with well into the future.

The Oxford and Cambridge Society of Singapore is pleased to invite you to join us for a Fireside Chat with Ambassador Chan Heng Chee, who will share her views on the interplay between the politics of Singapore and its foreign policy.

Ambassador Chan is Ambassador-at-Large with the Singapore Foreign Ministry and concurrently, Singapore’s Representative to the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights. She chairs the National Arts Council as well as the Lee Kuan Yew Centre for Innovative Cities in the Singapore University of Technology and Design, and is a member of the Presidential Council for Minority Rights. On the international front, she chairs the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on Urban Development, and is a trustee of the Asia Society and a member of the Board of the Lowy Institute for International Policy.

She served as Singapore’s Ambassador to the United States from 1996 to 2012, and was Singapore’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 1989 to 1991. When she left Washington in 2012 at the end of her appointment, Ambassador Chan received the inaugural Asia Society Outstanding Diplomatic Achievement Award, the inaugural Foreign Policy Outstanding Diplomatic Achievement Award 2012 and the United States Navy Distinguished Public Service Award.

She has received a number of other awards, including the Distinguished Service Order in 2011 and the Meritorious Service Medal in 2005. She has also received Honorary Degrees of Doctor of Letters from the University of Newcastle, Australia; and the University of Buckingham, United Kingdom. Ambassador Chan was named Singapore’s first “Woman of the Year” in 1991, and was twice awarded the National Book Awards: in 1986 for “A Sensation of Independence: A Political Biography of David Marshall” and in 1978 for “The Dynamics of One Party Dominance: The PAP at the Grassroots”.

Participation is open to all members. Members may bring one non-member guest at a cost of $40 per person. Kindly contact events@oxbridge.org.sg to verify your membership status, if necessary.