Description
About the Author

Sample Chapter(s)
Foreword (81 KB)
Lecture 1: Politics and Governance (261 KB)

The IPS-Nathan Lectures series was launched by the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) in 2014. It is part of the S R Nathan Fellowship for the Study of Singapore. The Fellowship was set up to fund further research into public policy, with the S R Nathan Fellow, who is appointed annually, delivering between four and six lectures each year. These lectures aim to advance public understanding and discussion of issues of critical national interest.

Ho Kwon Ping was the 2014/15 S R Nathan Fellow for the Study of Singapore. This book contains the five IPS-Nathan Lectures he gave between October 2014 and April 2015, as well as highlights of the accompanying dialogue with the audience. In his lectures, Ho looks forward to the next 50 years, offering innovative ideas and robust views on how governance and key institutions can evolve to ensure the sustainable continuation of Singapore — the "improbable nation".

This book illuminates Ho's vision of a cohesively diverse Singapore lasting beyond the lifespan of his generation, and aims to get the young to ponder and discuss the kind of home, and future, they wish for.

Contents:
- Politics and Governance
- Economy and Business
- Security and Sustainability
- Demography and Family
- Society and Identity
Ho Kwon Ping is Executive Chairman of Banyan Tree Holdings, a Singapore-based premium hospitality brand with global business interests. Born in 1952, he grew up in Thailand, attended Tunghai University in Taiwan and Stanford University in the United States, and returned to Singapore in 1972 to enlist in national service. In 1977, as a journalist for the Far Eastern Economic Review, Ho was arrested under Singapore's Internal Security Act for writing articles with a pro-communist slant. He was detained for two months. In 1978, he graduated from the University of Singapore with an economics and history degree. Ho joined his family's business in 1981 and launched Banyan Tree in the 1990s.

Ho has sat on the boards of several Singapore and international organisations and has been lauded for his business achievements. He supports a range of civic causes including the Arts. In 1997, the Singapore government asked him to lead the effort to establish Singapore's third university, Singapore Management University (SMU). In 2000, he was conferred an honorary doctorate by Johnson & Wales University. Ho is now chairman of SMU's board of trustees.

Authors

The Ocean in a Drop Singapore: The Next Fifty Years