《生活在亚洲世纪：非外交回忆录》作者：马凯硕
https://asianreviewofbooks.com/living-the-asian-century-an-undiplomatic-memoir-by-kishore-mahbubani/
马凯硕
二十年来，新加坡外交官兼作家马凯硕一直是越来越多知识分子和专家的领军人物，他们宣传“亚洲二十一世纪”，这是一个胜利的弧线，亚洲大国——尤其是正在崛起的中国——已经摆脱了西方殖民主义的束缚，在全球国家和文明的等级制度中占据了“应有的”地位。马凯硕的作品以一系列畅销书为主，这些畅销书讲述了西方衰落和亚洲崛起的故事，赢得了从美国国际主义者到中国民族主义者等众多观众的认可。
因此，读过他之前作品的读者将会对马凯硕最新著作的基调有所准备，甚至可能会感到惊讶，这是一本非常个人化和私密的回忆录。《生活在亚洲世纪》一书摆脱了马凯硕早期作品中那种激烈的争论（但不一定摆脱了自负的负担），提供了对知识和政治世界的洞察，正是这些世界产生了他最著名的思想。
“都怪该死的英国人。”
“都怪该死的英国人。”第一章的第一行就引用了一个熟悉的比喻，即西方殖民者要为后殖民亚洲的所有缺点负责。幸运的是，这个开场白并没有让殖民者的“失误”掩盖战后新加坡一个贫穷的信德移民家庭复杂的生活世界。尽管面临家庭生活的挑战、父亲入狱和父母离异，马布巴尼仍然沉浸在多语种社会的文化丰富性中，这个社会相对没有社区暴力和政治，这为他带来了成功。通过一系列偶然的国家干预——包括提供营养、公共教育、通过藏书丰富的公共图书馆提供知识宝库，以及最终获得新加坡大学的总统奖学金——年轻的基肖尔晋升，为在公务员队伍中取得丰硕的职业生涯做好了准备。正如他所推测的那样，他是一个幸运的青年，母亲对他关爱有加，国家也实行“善治”，尽管他的姐妹们没有享有接受教育、获得机会和晋升的特权。
新加坡大学的智力刺激培养了马布巴尼的“自由和独立精神”，使他摆脱了年轻时的贫困，投身于公共服务事业——他先是成为一名外交官，在金边、吉隆坡、华盛顿特区和纽约任职。这些旅程追溯了马凯硕成长为“新加坡模式”治理和外交的推广者这一更为人熟知的角色的过程；这位年轻的理想主义者、和平主义者基肖尔很快就被吴庆瑞、拉惹勒南和李光耀等导师的强硬现实主义所同化。然而，正如马凯硕所描述的那样，他的“自由和激进精神”远非妥协，而是与新加坡三位开国领袖（吴庆瑞、拉惹勒南和李光耀）志趣相投，而这三位领袖本身也是反抗强大殖民势力的“反叛者”。在职业生涯的亮点之间，回忆录中穿插着家庭和个人生活的节奏。经历了两次婚姻，经历了婴儿的悲惨死亡和痛苦的离婚等令人衰弱的个人悲剧，马凯硕变得更加坚强，并准备在他的职业生涯中取得更大的成功。
生活在“亚洲世纪”意味着什么？
成熟的基肖尔在本书的后几章中占据主导地位，他以外交部常任秘书的身份发声。通过两次担任新加坡驻联合国大使，包括短暂担任联合国安理会主席的一年，读者了解到他与高级外交官的多次互动、职业奋斗以及在外交、学术和公共生活中的无数成就。回忆录并没有放弃任何开创性的启示，而是对他辉煌的公共记录进行了修饰，最终以记录他在“伟大的亚洲复兴”中的先锋作用、实现亚洲梦和为实现亚洲世纪做出贡献而结束。
什么是亚洲梦？生活在“亚洲世纪”意味着什么？如果像他之前所定义的那样，这涉及战胜西方并摆脱殖民主义的枷锁，那么亚洲大国日益增长的政治影响力和新加坡等亚洲城市的物质成功无疑证实了这种必胜的势头。事实上，马凯硕宣称自己是在亚洲进行区域建设项目，通过新加坡向印度和中国的广大读者群推销他的个人和职业轨迹（这本回忆录和他的许多前作一样，都有中文翻译版）
《生活在亚洲世纪》非外交回忆录
作者：基肖尔·马布巴尼 ? 发布日期：2024 年 8 月 13 日
近距离观察新加坡独立以来的惊人崛起。
这位长期担任新加坡外交官的坦率职业评估，其任期与李光耀领导国家进入国际舞台的数十年时间相吻合。
马布巴尼（生于 1948 年）是印度信德人的后裔，在印巴分治期间离开了后来成为巴基斯坦的地方。他出生于新加坡，父亲是一名劳工。他的父亲经常酗酒，深陷赌债，无法稳定养家糊口，作者、母亲和姐妹们努力维持生计。与此同时，他们与马来人、华人和穆斯林邻居和睦相处，因为新加坡是一个创业中心，为脱离英国和马来西亚联邦而战。当铁腕的李光耀带领这个小国走向现代化和繁荣时，马凯硕“开始相信，我进步的唯一途径是逐渐摆脱原始的亚洲偏见，用西方文明的先进思想取而代之”。他写道，1967 年，“我一生中最大的奇迹之一发生了。”他获得了总统奖学金，进入新加坡大学学习。尽管马凯硕希望成为一名哲学教授（“普鲁塔克是对的——教育不是填满一桶水，而是点燃火焰”），但他加入外交部主要是为了支持他的母亲，他一干就是三十多年。作者写到他对李光耀的钦佩，他与罗纳德·里根关系密切，也谈到了新加坡 2001 年当选联合国安理会成员的重要性。马凯硕称赞李光耀能够像大卫对抗巨人歌利亚一样对抗美国，这位作者后来担任了李光耀公共政策学院院长。他是一位直率、多产、有影响力的东南亚评论家。
"Living the Asian Century: An Undiplomatic Memoir" by Kishore Mahbubani
https://asianreviewofbooks.com/living-the-asian-century-an-undiplomatic-memoir-by-kishore-mahbubani/
Readers of his prior work will thus be primed for, and perhaps surprised by the tenor of Mahbubani’s most recent book, a deeply personal and intimate memoir. A welcome departure from the polemics—but not necessarily the weight of self-importance—which have characterized his earlier writings, Living the Asian Century provides insights into the intellectual and political worlds that produced the ideas for which he is best known.
“Blame it all on the damn British.”“Blame it all on the damn British.” This first line of the first chapter sets the stage by invoking a familiar trope of Western colonial culpability for all of postcolonial Asia’s shortcomings. Fortunately, this opening does not allow the colonial “screw up” to overshadow the complex life worlds of a poor Sindhi immigrant family in postwar Singapore. Despite the challenges of domestic life, his father’s imprisonment, and his parents’ separation, Mahbubani dwells on the cultural richness of a polyglot society relatively free from communal violence and politics which positioned him for success. Through a series of fortuitous state interventions—including the provision of nutrition, public education, repositories of knowledge through well-stocked public libraries, and eventually a President’s Scholarship to the University of Singapore—a young Kishore rises up the ranks, primed for a productive career in the civil service. As he surmises, his was a lucky youth marked by affection from his mother and “good governance” by the state, although his privileged access to education and opportunities and advancement were not shared by his sisters.
It was the intellectual stimulation at Singapore University, that nurtured Mahbubani’s “free and independent spirit”, positioning him to leave behind the poverty of his youth for a lifelong career in public service—first as a diplomat, with postings in Phnom Penh, Kuala Lumpur, Washington DC, and New York. These journeys trace Mahbubani’s growth into his better-known role as a popularizer for a “Singapore model” of governance and diplomacy; the young idealist, pacifist Kishore is soon assimilated into the hard-nosed realism of his mentors such as Goh Keng Swee, S Rajaratnam, and Lee Kuan Yew. And yet, far from compromise, as Mahbubani describes, his “free and radical spirit” found kindred spirits with the trio of Singapore’s founding leaders (Goh, Rajaratnam, and Lee) who in their own right, were also “rebels” against much more powerful colonial powers. In between the highlights of his career, the memoir is interspersed with the rhythms of family and personal life. Through two marriages, and experiencing debilitating personal tragedies including the tragic death of an infant and a painful divorce, Mahbubani emerges stronger and poised for greater success in his professional life.
What does it mean to live the “Asian Century”?It is the mature Kishore who dominates in the latter chapters of the book when he finds his voice as Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Through two stints as Singapore’s Ambassador to the UN, including a brief year as head of the UN Security Council, readers are introduced to his multiple interactions with top diplomats, professional struggles, and myriad achievements in diplomacy, academia, and public life. Embellishments to his illustrious public record, rather than dropping any groundbreaking revelations, the memoir ultimately concludes by recording his pioneering role in the “great Asian renaissance”, living out the Asian dream and contributing to the realization of the Asian century.
What is this Asian dream, and what does it mean to live the “Asian Century”? If, as he has previously defined, this involves overcoming the West and throwing off the shackles of colonialism, the growing political clout of Asian powers and the material successes of Asian cities like Singapore certainly affirms this triumphalist arc. Indeed, Mahbubani’s claims are to a region-making project in Asia, pitching his personal and professional trajectory—via Singapore—to a large base of readers in India and China (this memoir, as with many of his prior works, is available in Chinese translation). There is much to commend about the autobiographical approach, which personalizes the inner workings of high politics and diplomacy. However, I set down the book still curious about other aspects of his recent political career which gained considerable public scrutiny in Singapore. Given the wide-ranging publicity over Mahbubani’s recent role as a sympathetic commentator on Chinese politics, there is surprisingly little reflection on his interest in contemporary China. Likewise, his retirement from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in 2017 and the context of his recent dissent and divergence from other members of Singapore’s foreign policy establishment are also passed over lightly. Despite his attempts to be “undiplomatic”, casting himself as an activist and contrarian thinker who supports the writing of an “uninhibited history of Singapore”, one might wonder if Mahbubani is being facetious about this activist persona or whether it is partially his attempt to strike a chord with a younger generation of Asian readers outside of the “establishment” with which he was previously associated. Given his public stature in Singapore and eminent role as a diplomat and academic who has in recent times earned the public censure of the city-state’s elite, a more introspective reflection on navigating the role of a public intellectual in contemporary Singapore, would have been an important contribution to ongoing debates on the stakes of democratic participation and civil society activism in Asia today.
Living the Asian Century will undoubtedly be of wide-ranging interest to those interested in contemporary Singapore. As a reader who has been at times frustrated by the generalizations and combative tone that characterizes Mahbubani’s polemics in his other works, I must confess that I found this memoir eminently readable, even enjoyable at times. In simple prose, it is readily accessible and succeeds at least as one account of as one account of progress in post-independence Singapore. Even readers who cannot follow Mahbubani along with his visions of the Asian dream and Asian renaissance, will gain some insights into the social and political worlds which shaped the man and his ideas.
LIVING THE ASIAN CENTURY AN UNDIPLOMATIC MEMOIR
BY KISHORE MAHBUBANI ? RELEASE DATE: AUG. 13, 2024
An intimate view of Singapore’s stunning rise since independence.
Afrank career assessment by the longtime Singaporean diplomat whose tenure paralleled the decades of Lee Kuan Yew’s stewardship of the country into the international arena.
A descendant of Hindu Sindhi people who left what became Pakistan during Partition, Mahbubani (b. 1948), author of The Great Convergence, was born in Singapore, where his father worked as a laborer. Often drunk and mired in gambling debts, his father was not a stable provider, and the author, his mother, and his sisters struggled to make ends meet. At the same time, they lived amicably among Malay, Chinese, and Muslim neighbors, as Singapore was an entrepreneurial hub fighting for independence from Great Britain and then from the Federation of Malaysia. As the strong-armed Lee Kuan Yew steered the tiny state toward modernization and greater prosperity, Mahbubani “became convinced that the only way for me to progress was to steadily shed my primitive Asian prejudices and replace them with the advanced thought of Western civilization.” In 1967, he writes, “one of the greatest miracles of my life happened.” He was granted a President’s Scholarship to attend the University of Singapore. Although Mahbubani hoped to become a philosophy professor (“Plutarch was right—education isn’t about filling a bucket; it’s about lighting fires”), he joined the Foreign Ministry largely to support his mother, and he served for more than three decades. The author writes about his admiration of Lee, who was close to Ronald Reagan, as well as the importance of Singapore’s election to the UN Security Council in 2001. Mahbubani credits Lee with being able to stand up to the U.S., like David to Goliath, and the author went on to serve as dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. He is a straightforward, prolific, influential commenter on Southeast Asia.
