Shashi Jayakumar & Jeanette Kwek 
PETER HO’S MENAGERIE [EPUB ebook] 

Peter Ho, former head of Singapore’s Civil Service, has during his decades of public service brought to bear a deep appreciation of futures thinking, complexity, and strategic surprise to multiple aspects of governance and security. This volume, presented to Peter on the occasion of his 70th birthday, brings together contributions from his friends (from Singapore and beyond) and collaborators over many years of work covering several fields. The contributions touch on areas such as foresight, ‘wicked problems’, ‘black swans’, challenges to governance, Artificial Intelligence, and intelligence matters. The foreword is written by Teo Chee Hean, Singapore’s Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security, and a longstanding friend of Peter.

Contents:

• Foreword (Teo Chee Hean)


• Prefatory Appreciation (Lui Pao Chuen)


• Introduction (Shashi Jayakumar, Adrian Kuah, Jeanette Kwek, Vernie Oliveiro)


• About the Editors


• About the Contributors


• Tanks in Factories:
  
  
  
  • Models for Defence R&D and Technology Ecosystems (Isaac Ben-Israel)
  
  
  • The Future Systems Directorate and Peter Ho’s Trail of Transformation (Jimmy Khoo)
  
  
  • Peter and the Defence Technology Ecosystem (Tan Peng Yam)
  
  
  • Peter Ho and the Risk Assessment and Horizon Scanning Story (Patrick Nathan)
  
  


• Elephants in Rooms:
  
  
  
  • Calling Attention to Elephants (Huw Price)
  
  
  • Defanging the Future (David Omand)
  
  
  • The Black Elephant in the Room (John Scarlett)
  
  


• Futures in Crystal:
  
  
  
  • Policy Skills for the 21st Century (Aaron Maniam)
  
  
  • The Politics of Anticipation and Future Thinking (Chan Heng Chee)
  
  
  • Peter Ho: One American’s Personal Appreciation (Linton Wells II)
  
  
  • The Scenario Practitioner’s Craft and the Janus Dilemma (Cho-Oon Khong)
  
  
  • Managing Inherent Uncertainty (David Snowden)
  
  
  • What is in it for Singapore? (Jan W Vasbinder)
  
  
  • Peter Ho and the Complexity of Cities (Khoo Teng Chye)
  
  
  • Peter Ho: The Great Navigator of Singapore (Peter Schwartz)
  
  
  • Governing with Complexity (Luís M A Bettencourt)
  
  


• Gods in Silicon:
  
  
  
  • Celebrating Peter Ho (and his Scenario Mindset) (Jeremy B Bentham)
  
  
  • Will Science Save or Destroy Us? (Martin Rees)
  
  
  • The Mandarin, the Market and the Machine (Richard Danzig)
  
  
  • Preparedness in Times of Chat GPT (Helga Nowotny)
  
  

Readership: For government officials/civil servants (especially those interested in strategic foresight, intelligence, and complexity), academia, graduate students, industry professionals (corporate strategists/consultants/risk managers), international organizations (e.g. UN, World Bank)/NGOs, and the general reader interested in the dynamics of the Singapore success story.

‘Peter Ho and I were in the 3rd batch of SAF Scholars. We went up to Cambridge together in 1973. Both of us did engineering. We were good friends from university days. We were both active in the Cambridge University Malaysia Singapore Association (CUMSA). Back in the SAF after graduation, Peter, together with Teo Chee Hean, joined the Navy. We met from time to time. After I joined politics in 1988, I interacted with Peter from time to time in public service. He was my Permanent Secretary when I was Foreign Minister from 2004–2011. From his youth, Peter was steady and mature, broad in interest and balanced in judgement, and utterly reliable. In the Foreign Ministry, we had an excellent working relationship. We worked on all important matters together, differing little in view, and always learning from each other. After I left government in 2011, I was for a day running for the Elected Presidency. At my request, Peter agreed to be my campaign manager. Since then, we meet episodically, but not enough.’ – George Yeo Former Minister for Foreign Affairs (2004–2011)

‘Few people have shaped the governance of Singapore and its relations with the rest of the world more deeply — and in a more thoroughly forward-looking manner — than Peter Ho. From his role as Head of the Civil Service and in many positions working on foreign affairs and national security, he helped steer Singaporean policy in an era of transformative political and economic change. Now through his contribution to the Centre for Strategic Futures and involvement with Singapore’s leading educational institutions, Peter is helping to chart the course into a future filled with both risk and opportunity. This book is a well-deserved testament to a life and career of public service in the highest sense of the term.’ – Ian Bremmer President and Founder, Eurasia Group and GZERO Media

Key Features:

• This book provides a hitherto-unprecedented, ringside account of the evolution of Singapore’s defence-innovation and foresight ecosystems by way of one of its chief architects


• The book is essential reading not just for those who are interested in the manifold dynamics of Singapore’s success story, but also those who are interested in complexity studies, emerging challenges to governance and the species, and those who may want to derive their own blueprints for successful skunkworks-type organizations wherever they may be situated