The Rafflesian Within
Conversations about the decisions that shaped a full life.
The Series
The Rafflesian Within is an interview series from the Old Rafflesians’ Association, in collaboration with Raffles Institution and RI Archives & Museum. We record long conversations with Rafflesians in the later stages of remarkable lives, people who have made a real difference to Singapore and to communities well beyond it.
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Each conversation is about the decisions of the person’s own life: what was in front of them at the time, what each choice cost, and where they would now decide differently. That reasoning is seldom written down, and we think all generations of Rafflesians could really benefit from this wisdom.
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How the Conversations Happen
Each conversation is a single recorded sitting with a moderator. There is no script, and we share the themes with the person beforehand if they would like that. We publish the full conversation and short clips from it on ORA’s own channels. The recording is held in RI Archives & Museum as part of the school’s archive.
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The First Conversation
Episode 01 · 47 minutes. The Rafflesian Within: Professor Tommy Koh. Moderated by Ben Paul, The Business Times.
Professor Tommy Koh has spent his working life in diplomacy and law. He presided over the Third UN Conference on the Law of the Sea and was one of the principal drafters of the ASEAN Charter. He also served as Singapore’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations and later as Ambassador to the United States. In this 47-minute conversation he goes through the decisions behind that work, including the ones he would now take differently.
In Collaboration
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Old Rafflesians’ Association
ORA runs the series and publishes each conversation and its clips on its own channels.
Raffles Institution
The series is run with the support of Raffles Institution.
RI Archives & Museum
RI Archives & Museum holds the recording of each conversation as part of the school’s archive.
The series is led by ORA Council member Dennis Chua, with ORA volunteers Roger Lim and Vinod Ashvin.
Suggest a Conversation
If there is a Rafflesian whom you think we should interview for the series, please drop us a line at ora@rafflesian.com.
An Old Rafflesians’ Association series, in collaboration with Raffles Institution and RI Archives & Museum.