From Estate to Embassy

K. Kesavapany was Singapore’s High Commissioner to Malaysia from 1997 to 2002. He served as Singapore’s Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva and was concurrently accredited as Ambassador to Italy (1991–1997) and Turkey. He was elected the first Chairman of the General Council of the WTO in 1995. He was also Singapore’s Non-Resident Ambassador to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. From 2002 to 2012, he was the Director of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, NUS. He is currently an adjunct professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in NUS.Anitha Devi Pillai lectures at the National Institute of Education, NTU. Her teaching focuses on writing skills and writing pedagogy. She is co-author of From Kerala to Singapore: Voices from the Singapore Malayalee Community and Project Work: Exploring Processes, Practices and Strategies. She has published in academic journals and books, as well as poetry and short stories in local and international journals.