Tommy Koh Thong Bee (; born 12 November 1937) is a Singaporean diplomat, lawyer, professor and author who served as Singapore's Permanent Representative to the United Nations between 1968 and 1971.

Early life and education

Koh was born in Singapore on 12 November 1937. His father was originally from Tong'an, Fujian and his mother was from Shanghai. He attended from

Serangoon Secondary School Serangoon Secondary School (SSS), formerly known as Serangoon English School, is a government secondary school in Upper Serangoon View, Singapore. History Serangoon English School (1928-1967) SSS started as Serangoon English School in 1928, h ...

and Raffles Institution 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 with first class honours degree. He subsequently went on to complete a Master of Laws degree at Harvard University, 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. He was conferred a full professorship in 1977. Koh was awarded honorary Doctor of Laws degrees from Yale University and Monash University. He has also received awards from Columbia University,

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, the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, 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 professor, action and Ambassador-at-Large for the Singaporean government. 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. 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 The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), also known as the Rio Conference or the Earth Summit (Portuguese: ECO92), was a major United Nations conference held in Rio de Janeiro from June 3 to June 14, 1992. Earth Su ...

, 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). 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 which criminalise same-sex intercourse between men. Koh is on the panel of mediators for Singapore International Mediation Centre.

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 (Bintang Bakti Masyarakat), Singapore * 1976: International Visitors Leadership Program (IVLP), Washington DC * 1979: Meritorious Service Medal ( Pingat Jasa Gemilang), 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), Yale University, Connecticut * 1985: Jackson H. Ralston Prize, Stanford Law School, California * 1985: Annual Award of the Asia Society, New York * 1987: International Service Award, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, USA * 1987: Jit Trainor Award for Distinction in Diplomacy, Georgetown University, USA * 1990: Distinguished Service Order Award ( Darjah Utama Bakti Cemerlang), Singapore * 1993: Commander, Order of the Golden Ark, The Netherlands * 1996: Elizabeth Haub Prize for Environmental Law,

University of Brussels University of Brussels may refer to several institutions in Brussels, Belgium: Current institutions * Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), a French-speaking university established as a separate entity in 1970 *Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), a D ...

* 1997: Grand Cross of the Order of Bernardo O'Higgins, 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 * 2000: John Curtin Medal, Curtin University of Technology, Western Australia * 2000: Grand Officer, Order of Merit of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg * 2000: Distinguished Service to Arts Education, LASALLE-SIA College Award * 2001: Officer in the Légion d'honneur, 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 of Spain on 24 May * 2006: Champions of the Earth, 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, 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