How Kishore Mahbubani got US$100 million in 3 minutes from Hong Kong’s richest man Li Ka-shing

I asked the NUS Development Office how much I should ask from Mr Li. The Development Office strongly cautioned me against asking for too much. They suggested S$30 million. Since the Ministry of Education would give a matching grant, that would lead to a S$60 million increase in the endowment. I decided to do my own research on Mr Li’s philanthropic contributions. I learned that his largest donation had been to Hong Kong University for a sum of HK$1 billion (or S$200 million). Without consulting anyone (and without trying to cover my backside, per the usual Civil Service tradition), I decided that I would ask for S$100 million.

Ambassador Toh Hock Ghim, our consul general in Hong Kong, and I walked into Li Ka-shing’s office armed with the letter from Lee Kuan Yew. I had, of course, prepared a thirty-minute pitch about the virtues of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy that I would deliver after Mr Li had read the letter. I sat on the edge of my seat, ready to begin as soon as Li Ka-shing had read the letter. However, Mr Li suddenly turned to me and asked, “How much?” I said, “One hundred million dollars.” He asked, “Singapore or Hong Kong?” I replied, “Singapore.” He frowned. Then he turned to his assistant, Amy Au, and began a discussion in Cantonese. I did not know what they were saying. I thought that I was done for.

Instead, after three minutes of discussion, Mr Li stretched out his hand to me to shake my hand and say, “OK.” I could have fainted then. I had never expected this complete and immediate agreement. I had raised S$100 million in three minutes. Even for established universities like Yale and Harvard, raising such sums usually requires weeks (if not months) of pre-negotiations. Clearly, this wouldn’t have