For two decades, Singaporean diplomat and author Kishore Mahbubani has been a leading voice among a growing group of intellectuals and pundits publicizing the “Asian Twenty-First Century”, a triumphalist arc where Asian powers—especially a rising China—have cast off the shackles of Western colonialism to assume their “rightful” place atop in the global hierarchy of nations and civilizations. Mahbubani’s oeuvre, dominated by his series of bestsellers popularizing a tale of Western decline and Asia’s rise, has won recognition from a host of audiences ranging from American internationalists and Chinese nationalists.
Readers of his prior work will thus be primed for, and perhaps surprised by the tenor of Mahbubani’s most recent book, a deeply personal and intimate memoir. A welcome departure from the polemics—but not necessarily the weight of self-importance—which have characterized his earlier writings, Living the Asian Century provides insights into the intellectual and political worlds that produced the ideas for which he is best known.
“Blame it all on the damn British.”
“Blame it all on the damn British.” This first line of the first chapter sets the stage by invoking a familiar trope of Western colonial culpability for all of postcolonial Asia’s shortcomings. Fortunately, this opening does not allow the colonial “screw up” to overshadow the complex life worlds of a poor Sindhi immigrant family in postwar Singapore. Despite the challenges of domestic life, his father’s imprisonment, and his parents’ separation, Mahbubani dwells on the cultural richness of a polyglot society relatively free from communal violence and politics which positioned him for success. Through a series of fortuitous state interventions—including the provision of nutrition, public education, repositories of knowledge through well-stocked public libraries, and eventually a President’s Scholarship to the University of Singapore—a young Kishore rises up the ranks, primed for a productive career in the civil service. As he surmises, his was a lucky youth marked by affection from his mother and “good governance” by the state, although his privileged access to education and opportunities and advancement were not shared by his sisters.
It was the intellectual stimulation at Singapore University, that nurtured Mahbubani’s “free and independent spirit”, positioning him to leave behind the poverty of his youth for a lifelong career in public service—first as a diplomat, with postings in Phnom Penh, Kuala Lumpur, Washington DC, and New York. These journeys trace Mahbubani’s growth into his better-known role as a popularizer for a “Singapore model” of governance and diplomacy; the young idealist, pacifist Kishore is soon assimilated into the hard-nosed realism of his mentors such as Goh Keng Swee, S Rajaratnam, and Lee Kuan Yew. And yet, far from compromise, as Mahbubani describes, his “free and radical spirit” found kindred spirits with the trio of Singapore’s founding leaders (Goh, Rajaratnam, and Lee) who in their own right, were also “rebels” against much more powerful colonial powers. In between the highlights of his career, the memoir is interspersed with the rhythms of family and personal life. Through two marriages, and experiencing debilitating personal tragedies including the tragic death of an infant and a painful divorce, Mahbubani emerges stronger and poised for greater success in his professional life.
What does it mean to live the “Asian Century”?
It is the mature Kishore who dominates in the latter chapters of the book when he finds his voice as Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Through two stints as Singapore’s Ambassador to the UN, including a brief year as head of the UN Security Council, readers are introduced to his multiple interactions with top diplomats, professional struggles, and myriad achievements in diplomacy, academia, and public life. Embellishments to his illustrious public record, rather than dropping any groundbreaking revelations, the memoir ultimately concludes by recording his pioneering role in the “great Asian renaissance”, living out the Asian dream and contributing to the realization of the Asian century.
What is this Asian dream, and what does it mean to live the “Asian Century”? If, as he has previously defined, this involves overcoming the West and throwing off the shackles of colonialism, the growing political clout of Asian powers and the material successes of Asian cities like Singapore certainly affirms this triumphalist arc. Indeed, Mahbubani’s claims are to a region-making project in Asia, pitching his personal and professional trajectory—via Singapore—to a large base of readers in India and China (this memoir, as with many of his prior works, is available in Chinese translation). There is much to commend about the autobiographical approach, which personalizes the inner workings of high politics and diplomacy. However, I set down the book still curious about other aspects of his recent political career which gained considerable public scrutiny in Singapore. Given the wide-ranging publicity over Mahbubani’s recent role as a sympathetic commentator on Chinese politics, there is surprisingly little reflection on his interest in contemporary China. Likewise, his retirement from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in 2017 and the context of his recent dissent and divergence from other members of Singapore’s foreign policy establishment are also passed over lightly. Despite his attempts to be “undiplomatic”, casting himself as an activist and contrarian thinker who supports the writing of an “uninhibited history of Singapore”, one might wonder if Mahbubani is being facetious about this activist persona or whether it is partially his attempt to strike a chord with a younger generation of Asian readers outside of the “establishment” with which he was previously associated. Given his public stature in Singapore and eminent role as a diplomat and academic who has in recent times earned the public censure of the city-state’s elite, a more introspective reflection on navigating the role of a public intellectual in contemporary Singapore, would have been an important contribution to ongoing debates on the stakes of democratic participation and civil society activism in Asia today.
Living the Asian Century will undoubtedly be of wide-ranging interest to those interested in contemporary Singapore. As a reader who has been at times frustrated by the generalizations and combative tone that characterizes Mahbubani’s polemics in his other works, I must confess that I found this memoir eminently readable, even enjoyable at times. In simple prose, it is readily accessible and succeeds at least as one account of as one account of progress in post-independence Singapore. Even readers who cannot follow Mahbubani along with his visions of the Asian dream and Asian renaissance, will gain some insights into the social and political worlds which shaped the man and his ideas.