Kernail Singh Sandhu
IHF-SG Excellence Award For Academia Achievement
Professor Kernail Singh Sandhu after finishing his Doctor of Philosophy at the University of British Columbia, a rising academic from Southeast Asia, was appointed Director of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) in 1972. The institute was set up in 1968 by Dr Goh Keng Swee, then-Singapore’s Minister for Defence, to become the leading hub for interdisciplinary research for the region. In his 20 years at the institute, Kernial transformed it.
Putting financial support aside, Kernial was also a man who had time for everyone. He saw equal importance in the work of prominent senior scholars and newly-graduated researchers. He gave everyone the benefit of doubt for producing good pieces of work. He would continuously allow extension of deadlines.
Kernial’s effort to make ISEAS a regional body with an international appeal was highly successful. By 1992, it had researchers from all over the world, with 40 per cent of them coming from Southeast Asia. Also, by 1992, ISEAS had published over 640 titles and was the region’s largest publisher of scholarly material on the Asia Pacific region. It is clear, this was aman who believed in anyone who walked through his door and it was a quality that is still remembered and deeply appreciated by researchers and ISEAS alike.
Kernial was also behind the movement to develop a world-class library at ISEAS. He believed in equipping the library with excellent updated material and filling it with relevant material. He worked very closely with the librarian to make sure that researchers could get whatever they needed from the library itself. By 1992, the library stood in its own glory and was known to be a regional information centre, hosting more than 300,000 materials. It had increased its usership by 5,330 people in the same year.
Under Kernial’s guidance, ISEAS grew tremendously. However, he had even greater ambitions for the institute and the region. He foresaw a great potential in Southeast Asia and understood the role ISEAS had
to play in helping everyone realise the same. To do this, the institute needed to expand much more rapidly in size and reputability. He used his high stature with the government and international scholars to help acquire funds and academic freedom that would further hone ISEAS’ legitimacy as a reputed source of information on Southeast Asia. Kernial succeeded in acquiring funding from all over the world. The willingness of so many big names to contribute to the journals published by ISEAS again demonstrated the institute’s growing reputability and its positive reputation amongst an international crowd. These publications were distributed in 73 countries, 53 percent of them in Asia.
Despite having so much on his plate, Kernial also continued with his own research and authored seven books centred mainly on migration of Indians to Southeast Asia and the rise of Melaka in the 18th century.
Kernial’s books are still highly regarded and known as classics till today. In particular, his book, Management of Success: The Molding of Modern Singapore even caught the attention of Singapore’s first Prime Minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew. A joint effort by Kernial and Professor Paul Wheatley, that no one has been able to beat the 1,134-page reference material till today, some 26 years later.
The professor’s most prominent contribution to Singapore and Southeast Asia, however, lies in building economic cooperation which eventually led to the establishment of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Free Trade Agreement in 1992. He led the way by organising annual ASEAN roundtables and invited officials and ministers from ASEAN to discuss economic potential of and possible challenges to ASEAN cooperation. By 1992, anew chapter was opened by the region with the free trade agreement.
Not surprisingly, towards the end of his tenure at ISEAS in 1992, Kernial showed no signs of slowing down. He was preparing the launch of another compilation called the ASEAN Reader when he suddenly passed away of a heart attack on 2 December 1992.
An active member in public service, Kernial was awarded the Pingat Pentadbiran Awam (Public Administration Medal) (Gold) in 1985.