Tommy Koh

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Koh.
Tommy Koh Thong Bee
DUNU (First Class)
Born (1937-11-12) 12 November 1937
British Malaya
Residence Singapore
Ethnicity Chinese
Citizenship Singaporean
Education L.L.B
L.L.M
Diploma in Criminology
Alma mater University of Malaya
Harvard University
University of Cambridge
Occupation International lawyer, professor, and a diplomat
Known for Former ambassador to the United Nations

Tommy Koh (Tommy Thong-Bee Koh or Tommy Koh Thong Bee, simplified Chinese: 许通美; traditional Chinese: 許通美; pinyin: Xǔ Tōng Měi; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Khó Thong-bí) (born: Singapore, 12 November 1937), DUNU (First Class), is an international lawyer, professor, and a diplomat from Singapore. He was also the former ambassador to the United Nations.

Early life and education

Koh was born in Singapore on 12 November 1937. His father was from Tong An, Fujian province and his mother from Shanghai. He graduated from Raffles Institution and received a LL.B. (First Class Honours) degree from the University of Malaya in Singapore (now National University of Singapore). He holds a LL.M. from Harvard University and a post-graduate Diploma in Criminology from Cambridge University. He was conferred a full professorship in 1977. Prof Koh was awarded honorary LL.D. degrees from Yale University and Monash University. He has also received awards from Columbia University, Stanford University, Georgetown University, the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (Tufts), and Curtin University.

Career

He is an international lawyer, professor and Ambassador-at-Large for the Government of Singapore. He presently serves as Special Adviser at the Singapore Institute of Policy Studies, Chairman of the National Heritage Board, Chairman of the Governing Board of the NUS Centre for International Law, and Rector of Tembusu College at the National University of Singapore. He is on secondment from the National University of Singapore Faculty of Law.[1]

He was President of the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea, 1980–1982. Lax and Sebenius present Koh and his efforts in getting the Convention passed, as an example of successful negotiating.[2] 1990 to 1992 he served as Chairman of the Main Committee of the UN Conference on Environment and Development, where he presided over the negotiations on Agenda 21. He has also served as Singapore's ambassador to the United Nations and the United States.

Koh was the first Executive Director of the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF), established in Singapore in 1997 by the countries of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM).

Professor Koh is currently a special advisor to the Institute of Policy Studies.[3]

On 9 August 2008, Koh was conferred with the Order of Nila Utama (First Class) by the Singapore Government, for his outstanding contributions in the Singapore legislative team representing Singapore, in the Pedra Branca dispute case with the Malaysian government.[4]

He is on the panel of mediators for Singapore International Mediation Centre.

Selected writings

Honours and awards

Lectures

See also

References

  1. ↑ Institute of Policy Studies, Tommy Koh biography.
  2. ↑ David A. Lax and James K. Sebenius, "Thinking Coalitionally: Party Arithmetic, Process Opportunism, and Strategic Sequencing,” in H. Peyton Young, ed. Negotiation Analysis. (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1991), pp. 153–194.
  3. ↑ www.spp.nus.edu.sg/ips/Tommy_KOH.aspx
  4. ↑ "NDP awards". Straits Times. 8 September 2008.
  5. ↑ Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, "2009 Autumn Conferment of Decorations on Foreign Nationals," p. 2.
  6. ↑ [[Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School and the Future of Diplomacy Project at Harvard Kennedy School (Cambridge, MA, USA)|Harvard Law School]], "The 2014 Great Negotiator Award Program"

External links

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