Tommy Koh Thong Bee is a Singaporean diplomat, lawyer, professor and author who served as Singapore's Permanent Representative to the United Nations between 1968 and 1971.
13 Facts About Tommy Koh
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Tommy Koh's father was originally from Tong'an, Fujian and his mother was from Shanghai.
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Tommy Koh attended from Serangoon Secondary School and Raffles Institution before graduating from the University of Malaya in Singapore with a Bachelor of Laws with first class honours degree.
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Tommy Koh 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 at the University of Cambridge.
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Tommy Koh has received awards from Columbia University, Stanford University, Georgetown University, the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, and Curtin University.
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Tommy Koh is an international law professor, action and Ambassador-at-Large for the Singaporean government.
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Tommy Koh 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, and Rector of Tembusu College at the National University of Singapore.
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Tommy Koh is on secondment from the National University of Singapore Faculty of Law.
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Tommy Koh has served as Singapore's ambassador to the United Nations and the United States.
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Tommy Koh was the first Executive Director of the Asia-Europe Foundation, established in Singapore in 1997 by the countries of the Asia-Europe Meeting.
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On 9 August 2008, Tommy Koh was conferred with the Order of Nila Utama by the Singaporean government for his outstanding contributions in the Singapore legislative team representing Singapore in the Pedra Branca dispute case with the Malaysian government.
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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.
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Tommy Koh is on the panel of mediators for Singapore International Mediation Centre.