RSIS Launch of Book: “Perspectives on the Security of Singapore: The First 50 Years” by Barry Desker and Ang Cheng Guan
About the Book
Perspectives on the Security of Singapore: The First 50 Years explores the security of Singapore in the last 50 years and its possible trajectories into the future. This volume brings together the diverse perspectives of a team of academics with different expertise, ranging from history to political science to security studies with a common interest in Singapore. The book is further boosted by the recollections of key civil servants involved with foreign affairs and defence, such as S R Nathan, Peter Ho, Bilahari Kausikan and Philip Yeo.
About the Editors
BARRY DESKER is a Distinguished Fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University. He formerly headed RSIS and the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies from October 2000 to November 2014. He continues to hold the inaugural Bakrie Professorship in Southeast Asia Policy, which was established in November 2010. He is a Member of the Presidential Council for Minority Rights, Singapore, and a Member of the Board of Directors of the Lee Kuan Yew Exchange Fellowship. He was the Chief Executive Officer of the Singapore Trade Development Board from 1994 to 2000 and was Singapore’s Ambassador to Indonesia from 1986 to 1993. He was awarded the Public Administration Medal (Gold) in 1992 and the Long Service Award in 1995.
Amb Desker is currently also the Non-Resident Ambassador of Singapore to the Holy See and Spain, and Chairman of Singapore Technologies Marine. A President’s Scholar, he was educated at the University of Singapore, University of London and Cornell University. He was awarded an honorary doctorate by Warwick University in 2012 and by the University of Exeter in 2013.
ANG CHENG GUAN is presently Head, Graduate Studies at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. Prior to this he was Associate Professor and Head, Humanities and Social Studies Education Academic Group of the National Institute of Education (HSSE/NIE). He is the author of Vietnamese Communist Relations with China and the Second Indo-China Conflict, 1956-1962 (Jefferson : MacFarland, 1997, reprinted in paperback, 2012), The Vietnam War from the Other Side: The Vietnamese Communists’ Perspective (London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2002, paperback 2006), its sequel, Ending the Vietnam War: The Vietnamese Communists’ Perspective (London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2004, paperback 2006); Southeast Asia and the Vietnam War (London: Routledge, 2010, hardback, paperback and e-book); Lee Kuan Yew’s Strategic Thought (London: Routledge, 2013, hardback, softback and e-book) and Singapore, ASEAN and the Cambodia Conflict, 1979-1991 (Singapore: NUS Press, 2013). He has published in edited volumes as well as in journals including Asian Survey, Journal of Contemporary History, War and Society, War in History, Australian Journal of International Affairs, Security Dialogue, Southeast Asia Research, Cold War History, Asian Security and the Journal of Southeast Asian Studies. He was a Gerald R. Ford Foundation Research Grant Award recipient (Fall 2005), Fulbright Singapore Researcher award recipient (2006-2007) and a Woodrow Wilson Public Policy Scholar (2006-2007). He is also a recipient of the Public Administration Medal (Bronze) and the NIE Excellence in Teaching Commendation (2013). He is currently working on two book projects: (a) Southeast Asia and the Cold War, 1945-1991: An International History and its sequel (b) Southeast Asia and the Post-Cold War: The First Thirty Years.
