Tommy Koh: The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man

by Tommy Koh

The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man is the memoir of Professor Tommy Koh. His life is full of firsts. He was the first law student to be awarded First Class Honours; the first Singaporean to study at the Harvard Law School; and the youngest ambassador at the United Nations (UN). In his memoir, he explains how he came to be elected as the President of the UN Conference on the Law of the Sea and the chairman of the preparatory committee for the Earth Summit. He opposed merger and argued for independence and history has vindicated him. He recounts his role as his country's Chief Negotiator for the US-Singapore Free Trade Agreement and for the establishment of diplomatic relations between Singapore and China. He has been happily married for 58 years and has two sons and three grandchildren.


General readers.

280 pages, Paperback

Published November 30, 2025

About the author

Professor Tommy Koh is currently Ambassador-At-Large at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Special Adviser of the Institute of Policy Studies and Chairman of the Centre for International Law, National University of Singapore. He is the Chairman of the SymAsia Foundation of Credit Suisse. He is also the Rector of Tembusu College at the University Town of the National University of Singapore.

Prof Koh was the Dean of the Faculty of Law of the University of Singapore from 1971 to 1974. He was Singapore’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, New York from 1968 to 1971 (concurrently accredited as High Commissioner to Canada) and again from 1974 to 1984 (concurrently accredited as High Commissioner to Canada and Ambassador to Mexico). He was Ambassador to the United States of America from 1984 to 1990. He was President of the Third UN Conference on the Law of the Sea from 1981 to 1982. He was Chairman of the Preparatory Committee for and the Main Committee of the UN Conference on Environment and Development from 1990 to 1992. He was the founding Chairman of the National Arts Council from 1991 to 1996, Director of the Institute of Policy Studies from 1990 to February 1997 and from December 2000 to July 2004. From February 1997 to October 2000, he served as the founding Executive Director of the Asia-Europe Foundation. He was also Singapore’s Chief Negotiator for the US-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (2000 to 2003). He is the agent of Singapore in two legal disputes between Singapore and Malaysia. He chairs three committees for the National University of Singapore relating to law, Asia research and environmental management.

Prof Koh was appointed by the United Nations Secretary General as his Special Envoy to lead a mission to the Russian Federation, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia in August/September 1993. Prof Koh was a member of three WTO dispute panels, two of which as Chairman.

Prof Koh received a First Class Honours degree in Law from the National University of Singapore, has a Masters degree in Law from Harvard University and a post-graduate Diploma in Criminology from Cambridge University. He was conferred a full professorship in 1977. In 1984, Prof Koh was awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws by Yale University. He has also received awards from Columbia University, Stanford University, Georgetown University, the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and Curtin University. On 22 September 2002, Prof Koh was conferred an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws by Monash University. He has taught at various universities in the United States and China.

For his service to the nation, Prof Koh was awarded the Public Service Star in 1971, the Meritorious Service Medal in 1979, the Distinguished Service Order Award in 1990, and the Order of Nila Utama (First Class) in 2008. Prof Koh was appointed Commander in the Order of the Golden Ark by HRH Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands in March 1993. He received the award of the Grand Cross of the Order of Bernardo O’Higgins from the Government of Chile on 3 April 1997. He also received the 1996 Elizabeth Haub Prize from the University of Brussels and the International Council on Environmental Law on 17 April 1997. Prof Koh was awarded the 1998 Fok Ying Tung Southeast Asia Prize by the Fok Ying Tung Foundation in Hong Kong on 29 May 1998. On 22 February 2000 he was awarded the “Commander, First Class, of the Order of the Lion of Finland” by the President of Finland. On 2 May 2000, he was conferred the title of “Grand Officer in the Order of Merit of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg” by the Prime Minister of Luxembourg. On 6 August 2001, he was conferred the rank of Officer in the Order of the Legion of Honour by the President of the French Republic. He was presented with the Peace and Commerce Award by the US Secretary of Commerce, Donald Evans, in Washington DC, on 5 May 2003. His Majesty King Juan Carlos of Spain has bestowed upon Prof Koh the Encomienda of Isabel la Ca

Reviews

[Vidhya Nair · Rating 4 out of 5]

An easy concise read divided into clear chapters through his life. He’s another one of the developmental Singapore figures that helps you understand how Singapore is what it is. You can see the US experience has been critical to him as a legal advisor, diplomat and as he calls himself chief negotiator and agent of Singapore. It also shaped his children. He doesn’t include the Padma Shri in his Annex of awards. Probably didn’t think much of it. And the family bit comes mostly at the end. There was some repetitive sentences in chapters, probably kept that way for consistency and not to give away additional opinion. It tells you that he conducted his life with deliberateness yet had an easy disposition with people. In many places he acknowledges the many teams of people he worked with. Singapore doesn’t have a replacement for him like many of the characters of SG’s formative years. The interesting chapters are on the negotiations on the legal disputes with Malaysian and the US-FTA. Skilful manoeuvres were required. He refers to two Indians as his Guru, again in his context probably a term to not over discuss their role but just a respectful pedestal placement. There is much diplomacy in his choice of words and phrases and he offers opinions only where he vehemently disagrees or finds the situation exceptional. The book is neither emotional or deep. It’s a broad stroke of a long life of experiences & no overly glaring missteps. A pleasant read.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve always been a great admirer of Tommy Koh’s writing. As mentioned by his son in the foreword, the memoir is written in classic ‘Tommy Koh’ style, succinct, in simple language but yet filled with intellect and pose; displaying innate ability to dissect and present key issues into simpler three points.

Through his memoir, I could get a sense of his views towards key events in the history of Singapore; presenting it in a way that reflects how he feels about it but yet being respectful.

I also appreciate how he interweave key achievements in his life with that of Singapore’s significant events and continued to use his memories to educate and create awareness.

Truly a blessing to Singapore’s public service. I wish him good health and may all who read his memoir enjoy it, learn from it, as much as I did.