Tommy Koh Thong Bee (; born 12 November 1937) is a Singaporean diplomat, lawyer, professor and author who served as

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

Permanent Representative to the United Nations A permanent representative to the United Nations (sometimes called a "UN ambassador")"History of Ambassadors", United States Mission to the United Nations, March 2011, webpagUSUN-a. is the head of a country's diplomatic mission to the United Nati ...

between 1968 and 1971.

Early life and education

Koh was born in Singapore on 12 November 1937. His father was originally from

Tong'an Tong'an District () is a northern mainland district of Amoy which faces Quemoy County, Republic of China. To the north is Anxi and Nan'an, and to the south is Jimei. Tong'an is also east of Lianxiang and Changqin to the West. It covers

Fujian Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capi ...

and his mother was from

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

. He attended from Serangoon Secondary School and

Raffles Institution Raffles Institution (RI) is an independent educational institution in Singapore. Founded in 1823, it is the oldest school in the country. It provides secondary education for boys only from Year 1 to Year 4, and pre-university education for both ...

before graduating from the University of Malaya in Singapore (now the

National University of Singapore The National University of Singapore (NUS) is a national public research university in Singapore. Founded in 1905 as the Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States Government Medical School, NUS is the oldest autonomous university in the c ...

) with a

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

with first class honours degree. He subsequently went on to complete a

Master of Laws A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is an advanced postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in a related subject. In mos ...

degree at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, where he was classmate with Ngiam Tong Dow, and a Graduate Diploma in

criminology Criminology (from Latin , "accusation", and Ancient Greek , ''-logia'', from λόγος ''logos'' meaning: "word, reason") is the study of crime and deviant behaviour. Criminology is an interdisciplinary field in both the behavioural and so ...

at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

. He was conferred a full professorship in 1977. Koh was awarded honorary

Doctor of Laws A Doctor of Law is a degree in law. The application of the term varies from country to country and includes degrees such as the Doctor of Juridical Science (J.S.D. or S.J.D), Juris Doctor (J.D.), Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), and Legum Doctor (LL. ...

degrees from

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

and

Monash University Monash University () is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Named for prominent World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. The university has a ...

. He has also received awards from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

, the

Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy is the graduate school of international affairs of Tufts University, in Medford, Massachusetts. The School is one of America's oldest graduate schools of international relations and is well-ranked in it ...

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. ...

, and

Curtin University Curtin University, formerly known as Curtin University of Technology and Western Australian Institute of Technology (WAIT), is an Australian public research university based in Bentley, Perth, Western Australia. It is named after John Curtin, ...

Career

Koh is an

international law International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...

professor, action and Ambassador-at-Large for the

Singaporean government The Government of Singapore is defined by the Constitution of Singapore to mean the executive branch of the state, which is made up of the president and the Cabinet. Although the president acts in their personal discretion in the exercise o ...

. He presently serves as Special Adviser at the Institute of Policy Studies, Chairman of the National Heritage Board, Chairman of the Governing Board of the

Centre for International Law The Centre for International Law (CIL) was established in 2009 at the National University of Singapore, in response to the growing need for international law expertise and capacity building in the Asia-Pacific region. The CIL engages in research a ...

, and Rector of Tembusu College at the

. He is on secondment from the

National University of Singapore Faculty of Law The National University of Singapore Faculty of Law (NUS Law) is Singapore's oldest law school. NUS Law was initially established in 1956 as the Department of Law in the University of Malaya. After its establishment, NUS Law was Singapore's only ...

. Koh 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. 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 Agenda 21 is a non-binding action plan of the United Nations with regard to sustainable development. It is a product of the Earth Summit (UN Conference on Environment and Development) held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992. It is an action age ...

. He has also served as Singapore's ambassador to the United Nations and

the United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. 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). On 9 August 2008, Koh was conferred with the

Order of Nila Utama The Darjah Utama Nila Utama ( en, Order of Nila Utama) is Singapore's third most prestigious national honour instituted in 1975. It is an Order conferred by the President of Singapore The president of Singapore is the head of state of the R ...

(First Class) by the Singaporean government for his outstanding contributions in the Singapore legislative team representing Singapore in the

Pedra Branca dispute The Pedra Branca dispute was a territorial dispute between Singapore and Malaysia over several islets at the eastern entrance to the Singapore Strait, namely Pedra Branca (previously called Pulau Batu Puteh and now Batu Puteh by Malaysia), ...

case with the Malaysian government. In 2014, Koh received the Great Negotiator Award from Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School for his multiple contributions to diplomacy, most notably his work as chief negotiator for the United States–Singapore Free Trade Agreement, his work around developing the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, his important efforts in resolving territorial and humanitarian disputes in the Baltics and Asia, and his success in leading both the Third UN Conference on the Law of the Sea and the UN Conference on Environment and Development (also known as the Rio Earth Summit). In September 2018, via a Facebook post, Tommy Koh encouraged the LGBT communities of Singapore to challenge

Section 377A of the Penal Code Section 377A is a Singaporean law that criminalises sex between consenting adult males. It was introduced under British colonial rule in 1938 when added to the Penal Code by the colonial government. It remained part of the Singapore body of la ...

which criminalise same-sex intercourse between men. Koh is on the panel of mediators for

Singapore International Mediation Centre Singapore International Mediation Centre (SIMC) is an independent not-for-profit organisation in Singapore providing mediation services, through its panel of international mediators, to parties wishing to resolve their cross-border commercial disp ...

Selected writings

* Tommy Koh,
Constitution of the Oceans
', UNCLOS December 1982, accessed 20 May 2017 * Tommy Koh, ''Five Years After Rio:Some Personal Reflections'', UN Chronicle 1997, accessed a

29 August 2006 * Tommy T.B. Koh and Amitav Acharya (ed.), ''The Quest for World Order: Perspectives of a Pragmatic Idealist'', Times Academic Press, Singapore, 1997 * Tommy Koh, ''Five Years After Rio:Some Personal Reflections'', UN Chronicle 1997, accessed a

29 August 2006 * * * * * * Tommy T.B. Koh & Hernaikh Singh (eds), ''India On Our Minds: Essays By Tharman Shanmugaratnam And 50 Singaporean Friends Of India'', World Scientific Publishing, 2021.

Honours and awards

* 1961: Adrian Clarke Memorial Medal, University of Malaya (Singapore) * 1961: Leow Chia Heng Prize, University of Malaya (Singapore) * 1963: Fulbright Student, Master of Laws (LLM), Harvard University * 1971:

Public Service Star The Bintang Bakti Masyarakat (English: Public Service Star) is a Singaporean decoration instituted in 1963, is awarded to any person who has rendered valuable public service to the people of Singapore, or who has distinguished themselves in the ...

(Bintang Bakti Masyarakat), Singapore * 1976: International Visitors Leadership Program (IVLP), Washington DC * 1979: Meritorious Service Medal (

Pingat Jasa Gemilang The Pingat Jasa Gemilang ( en, Meritorious Service Medal) is a Singaporean national honour and medal instituted in 1962. It may be awarded to any person who has performed "''service of conspicuous merit characterised by resource and devotion to ...

), Singapore * 1984: Wolfgang Friedman Award,

Columbia University Law School Columbia Law School (Columbia Law or CLS) is the Law school in the United States, law school of Columbia University, a Private university, private Ivy League university in New York City. Columbia Law is widely regarded as one of the most prestig ...

, New York * 1984: Honorary ''Doctor of Laws'' (

LL.D Legum Doctor (Latin: “teacher of the laws”) (LL.D.) or, in English, Doctor of Laws, is a doctorate-level academic degree in law or an honorary degree, depending on the jurisdiction. The double “L” in the abbreviation refers to the earl ...

), Yale University,

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

* 1985: Jackson H. Ralston Prize,

Stanford Law School Stanford Law School (Stanford Law or SLS) is the law school of Stanford University, a private research university near Palo Alto, California. Established in 1893, it is regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world. Stanford La ...

, California * 1985: Annual Award of the Asia Society, New York * 1987: International Service Award,

, USA * 1987: Jit Trainor Award for Distinction in Diplomacy,

, USA * 1990: Distinguished Service Order Award (

Darjah Utama Bakti Cemerlang The Darjah Utama Bakti Cemerlang ( en, Distinguished Service Order) is a Singaporean national honour instituted in 1968. It was created to replace the ''Pingat Bakti Chemerlang'' ( en, Distinguished Service Medal) and is awarded to any person w ...

), Singapore * 1993: Commander,

Order of the Golden Ark The Most Excellent Order of the Golden Ark ( nl, Orde van de Gouden Ark) is a Dutch order of merit established in 1971 by Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands. It is awarded to people for major contributions to nature conservation. Although not ...

, The Netherlands * 1996: Elizabeth Haub Prize for Environmental Law, University of Brussels * 1997: Grand Cross of the Order of

Bernardo O'Higgins Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme (; August 20, 1778 – October 24, 1842) was a Chilean independence leader who freed Chile from Spanish rule in the Chilean War of Independence. He was a wealthy landowner of Basque-Spanish and Irish ancestry. Althou ...

, Chile * 1998: Fok Ying Tung Southeast Asia Prize, Fok Ying Tung Foundation, Hong Kong (29 May) * 2000: Commander, First Class, of the

Order of the Lion of Finland The Order of the Lion of Finland ( fi, Suomen Leijonan ritarikunta; sv, Finlands Lejons orden) is one of three official orders in Finland, along with the Order of the Cross of Liberty and the Order of the White Rose of Finland. The President o ...

* 2000: John Curtin Medal,

Curtin University of Technology Curtin University, formerly known as Curtin University of Technology and Western Australian Institute of Technology (WAIT), is an Australian public research university based in Bentley, Perth, Western Australia. It is named after John Curtin, ...

, Western Australia * 2000: Grand Officer,

Order of Merit of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg The Order of Merit of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (French: ''Ordre de Mérite du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg'') is an order of merit of Luxembourg, instituted on 23 January 1961 by Grand Duchess Charlotte. Grand Master of the order is the Grand ...

* 2000: Distinguished Service to Arts Education, LASALLE-SIA College Award * 2001: Officer in the

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

, President of the French Republic * 2003: Peace and Commerce Award for efforts at building trade links with the United States * 2004: Outstanding Service Award, National University of Singapore on 12 May * 2004: Encomienda of Isabel la Catolica, from His Majesty

King Juan Carlos King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the ti ...

of Spain on 24 May * 2006:

Champions of the Earth The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) established Champions of the Earth in 2005 as an annual awards programme to recognize outstanding environmental leaders from the public and private sectors, and from civil society. Award details T ...

, United Nations Environment Programme * 2007: Tatler Leadership Award for Lifetime Achievement, Singapore Tatler magazine * 2008: Order of Nila Utama (First Class) * 2009: Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star, 2009 (Japan). * 2014: Great Negotiator Award, 2014 (Harvard Law School/Harvard Kennedy School). * 2018:

Padma Shri Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, ...

, India's fourth highest civilian honour

Lectures

''The Art and Science of Chairing Major Inter-governmental Conferences''
in th

* ttp://legal.un.org/avl/faculty/Koh_T.html ''The Negotiating Process of UNCLOS III''in th
Lecture Series of the United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law

in th

Personal life

Tommy Koh is married to Poh Siew Aing. They have two sons,

Aun Aun the Old (Old Norse ''Aunn inn gamli'', Latinized ''Auchun'', Proto-Norse ''*Audawiniʀ'': English: "Edwin the Old") is a mythical Swedish king of the House of Yngling in the ''Heimskringla''. Aun was the son of Jorund, and had ten sons, nin ...

and Wei.

References

External links

Bio details at Institute of Policy Studies, Singapore
{{DEFAULTSORT:Koh, Tommy 1937 births Academics of the National University of Singapore Faculty of Law Ambassadors of Singapore to the United States Commanders First Class of the Order of the Lion of Finland Grand Officers of the Order of Merit of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg Harvard Law School alumni Living people Recipients of the Darjah Utama Bakti Cemerlang Recipients of the Darjah Utama Nila Utama Permanent Representatives of Singapore to the United Nations Raffles Institution alumni Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun, 2nd class Saint Joseph's Institution, Singapore alumni Singaporean diplomats 20th-century Singaporean lawyers Singaporean people of Hokkien descent Recipients of the Padma Shri in public affairs 21st-century Singaporean lawyers