18 June 2020
Former deputy prime minister S. Jayakumar has been appointed a pro-chancellor of the National University of Singapore. His appointment will last for three years starting on July 1.
Other NUS pro-chancellors include Council of Presidential Advisers member Po’ad Mattar, and former chief justice Chan Sek Keong. The chancellery is headed by Singapore President Halimah Yacob, who is also NUS chancellor.
Prof Jayakumar graduated top of his cohort at the then University of Singapore’s law faculty in 1963, and joined the faculty as a lecturer in 1964. He was appointed dean and served from 1974 to 1980.
In 1980, he entered politics where he held portfolios including Minister for Law, Home Affairs, Labour (now known as Manpower) and Foreign Affairs, and Deputy Prime Minister, Senior Minister, and Coordinating Minister for National Security. He retired from politics in 2011 and returned to NUS Law in October that year.
Jayakumar has also launched a memoir covering his 31 years in politics. Titled Be At The Table Or Be On The Menu: A Singapore Memoir, the book chronicles Jayakumar’s early life and his career as a law academic and dean.
Both this book, and his previous one in 2011, Diplomacy: A Singapore Experience, reveal in detail how Singapore has used a combination of support for international law, coalition-building with other like-minded states, and a resolve not to be pushed around by bigger nations.