Ariel Tan is Senior Fellow and Coordinator of the Malaysia Programme at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.  She was previously a Singapore Foreign Service Officer, who served in the policy, planning and analysis directorates for Europe, Southeast Asia, and the Americas, respectively, at the Ministry of Foreign affairs.  She was First Secretary (Political) at the Embassy of Singapore in Washington DC and Deputy High Commissioner of Singapore in Kuala Lumpur.  She has also worked at the Institute of Policy Studies, under the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (National University of Singapore), where she directed the institute’s strategic planning and communications.

Ariel was awarded the Public Administration Medal (Bronze) or Pingat Pentadbiran Awam (Gangsa), a Singapore National Day award, in 2013.

Ariel graduated from the National University of Singapore with a B.A. (Honours) in English Literature.  She holds a Master in Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, where she was also a Mason Fellow.

IDSS Papers

• IP22015 | An UMNO Triumphant or Insecure for GE15?

  18 March, 2022

• IP21003 | Malaysia's New Government: Same But Different

  24 August, 2021

RSIS Commentaries

• Race and Religion in Malaysia

  05 April, 2024

• Anwar Ibrahim's Cabinet Reshuffle: Staying the Course

  19 December, 2023

• The Anwar Administration: Once More with Less Feeling, More Art

  30 March, 2023

• Malaysia’s GE timing: What’s at stake?

  06 October, 2022

• The Abraham Accords: Malaysia’s Cautious Response

  13 January, 2021

Chapters in Edited Books

• “Malaysia in 2023: Full Throttle on Politics, Reforms in Back Seat” in Daljit Singh and Hoang Thi Ha (Eds), Southeast Asian Affairs 2024. Singapore: ISEAS Publishing, 2024, pp.159 - 176
• “Political Parties” in Tommy Koh and Daljit Singh (Eds.), America: A Singapore Perspective. Singapore: Straits Times Press, 2021, pp. 36-42

Op-Eds

• “Anwar’s ‘bridging’ skills put to the test as temperatures rise over race and religion in Malaysia”, The Straits Times, 30 March 2024
• “Commentary: Malaysia PM Anwar’s latest Cabinet reshuffle is no course correction, but an attempt to maintain power”, TODAY, 26 December 2023
• “The Anwar govt a year on: Stability restored but major challenges remain”, The Straits Times, 24 November 2023
• “Malaysia’s state elections: Implications for the Anwar administration”, The Straits Times, 16 August 2023
• “PAS is on the rise, but talk of a ‘green wave’ is premature”, The Straits Times, 14 April 2023
• “Commentary: Malaysian PM Anwar faces tough challenges but has a good chance of serving a full term”, TODAY, 31 March 2023
• “The royal dilemma of picking a prime minister for Malaysia”, The Straits Times, 28 November 2022
• “Commentary: Timing of Malaysia’s next General Election — what’s at stake?”, TODAY, 7 October 2022
• “UMNO Eyes an Early Election, but It is Not Out of the Woods Yet” (with Nadiah Binte Isa), TODAY, 18 March 2022
• “Malaysian Politics Needs a Reset” (with Joseph Liow Chin Yong), Nikkei Asia, 26 July 2021
• “In Malaysia, what lies beneath the divorce of Umno and Muhyiddin’s Bersatu?” (with Joseph Liow Chin Yong), South China Morning Post, 24 July 2021
• “马来西亚外交的以色列难题”, 联合早报, 21 March 2021
• “Umno – and Malaysia – at the crossroads” (with Joseph Liow Chin Yong), The Straits Times, 8 February 2021
• “Understanding Malaysia’s high-wire act on the Abraham Accords and the Israel-Palestine issue”, TODAY, 19 January 2021
• “Why Pakatan Harapan fell”, TODAY, 3 March 2020
• “All eyes on how new Muhyiddin government handles three issues in Malaysia”, TODAY, 2 March 2020