Did you miss the thought-provoking lecture by IPS' first S R Nathan Fellow Ho Kwon Ping this Monday?

Look at the crowd. Many people were there to witness the tour de force speech by Ho.

Ho, the executive chairman of hotel group Banyan Tree Holdings, spoke about the expected "dramatic" changes in politics and governance in the next 50 years. He also questioned whether the ruling People's Action Party (PAP) will stay dominant and provided three possible scenarios - 'freak election', party split or defeat by opposition.

According to the Straits Times, many of his quotes are "thought-provoking".

So here are five not so thought-provoking quotes from Ho's first IPS-Nathan Lecture you’re better off not knowing:

1. On the IPS S R Nathan Fellowship

"When asked to undertake this fellowship my first reaction was a bemused surprise. I’ve been called a lot of very bad names in my lifetime but never an academic."

Ho with President S R Nathan (in the middle) and IPS Director Janadas Devan (right)

2. On his favourite pastime during his SQ flights

"I didn’t quite see this as an award; having to prepare for these lectures has taken away my best past time, which is watching movies on long plane rides. So I’ll be very happy when this fellowship is over so that I can go back to watching movies on SQ flights."

3. Ho was educated in Tunghai University, Taiwan; Stanford University, California and the University of Singapore.

"I am not an academic, as anybody would know; it took me 9 years and 3 universities in 3 different countries, to just secure a simple Bachelor’s degree."

4. Ho was the Economics Editor of the now defunct news magazine Far Eastern Economic Review.

"In addition, I will use very data sparingly, partly because I am not good at research, but mainly because I prefer to be provocative and speculative, and as a wise editor I used to have once told me, never let facts get in the way of a good story!" 

5. Ho will hold four more public lectures over the coming months. 

"Thank you for your indulgence today, and I hope to see that some of you will still show up in three weeks time at the second lecture."

Fascinated by Ho's sense of humour and wittiness?

You can watch his full lecture here.

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Photo credits: The Institute of Policy Studies 

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