07 Nov 2024

S R Nathan Distinguished Lecture 2024

The aim of the S R Nathan Distinguished Lecture is to provide greater awareness and understanding of the modern Middle East. This lecture provides a forum for statesmen, internationally prominent scholars and public intellectuals to express their views on key issues. The lecture series is named in honour of Singapore’s late former president, Mr S R Nathan, who encouraged a deeper understanding of the Middle East region in Singapore.

Please join us for a conversation with this year’s distinguished speaker, HE Dr Ali Al Nuaimi, Chairman of the International Steering Board of Hedayah, the Abu Dhabi-based centre for countering extremism.

Following his tenure as the Chancellor of the United Arab Emirates University (UAEU), Dr Al Nuaimi was appointed to the Federal National Council, where he served as the Chairman of the Defense, Interior, and Foreign Affairs Committee. Amid the drafting of legislation and the review of international agreements, he was also a key figure in the advancing the Abraham Accords. As a prominent advocate for tolerance and interfaith dialogue, Dr Al Nuaimi founded and currently chairs the World Council of Muslim Communities, and previously served as the first Secretary-General of the Muslim Council of Elders. His deep engagement with religious groups across Southeast Asia is worthy of note.

Dr Al Nuaimi will speak on the Emirates’ efforts to promote religious tolerance, and moderate Islam within and beyond the Middle East. He will also share his experiences working with Southeast Asian Muslim communities.

This event will be conducted both in-person and online via Zoom on Thursday, 7 November from 3:00 PM to 4:30 PM (SGT). This event is free, however, registration is compulsory. Successful registrants will receive a confirmation email with the Zoom details closer to the date of the event.

For participants joining us via zoom, please register here.

View the programme here.

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About the Speakers

His Excellency Dr. Ali Rashed Al Nuaimi
Chairman Of Hedayah
Member of the UAE Federal National Council

Dr. Ali Al Nuaimi is a Member of the UAE Federal National Council representing the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and serves as the Chairman of the Council’s Defense, Interior & Foreign Affairs Committee.

A leading international expert on extremism and education, Dr. Ali Al Nuaimi has over 30 years of distinguished academic and professional achievements across government, non-governmental, and private sectors within the UAE and internationally.

As a pioneer in educational reform and policy, Dr. Al Nuaimi has held key leadership roles, including Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Department of Education and Knowledge (ADEK) and Chancellor of the United Arab Emirates University (UAEU), while serving as a Member of the Executive Council of the Government of Abu Dhabi.

Dr. Al Nuaimi is also a prominent advocate of global peace, tolerance, and coexistence. He is the inaugural Chairman of the International Steering Board of Hedayah, the International Center of Excellence for Countering Extremism and Violent Extremism, based in Abu Dhabi. Additionally, he founded and currently chairs the World Council of Muslim Communities, the Manara Regional Center for Coexistence and was the first Secretary-General of the Muslim Council of Elders.

[Moderator] Prof Joseph Liow
Chairman
Middle East Institute, NUS

Prof Joseph Liow (Joseph Chinyong Liow) is Dean of College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, where he is also Tan Kah Kee Chair in Comparative and International Politics and concurrently Senior Research Advisor for the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS). He was previously Dean of RSIS from October 2014 to December 2018. He also previously held the inaugural Lee Kuan Yew Chair in Southeast Asia Studies at the Brookings Institution, Washington DC.

Joseph’s research interests encompass Muslim politics and social movements in Southeast Asia and the geopolitics and geoeconomics of the Asia-Pacific region. Joseph is the author, co-author, or editor of 18 books, the most recent being Navigating Uncertainty: Our Region in an Age of Flux (World Scientific 2024), Islam and Political Power in Indonesia and Malaysia (Cambridge University Press Element Series 2022) and Dictionary of the Modern Politics of Southeast Asia, fifth edition (Routledge 2022).

A regular columnist for the Straits Times, his commentaries on international affairs has also appeared in New York Times, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, National Interest, Nikkei Asian Review, Wall Street Journal, and South China Morning Post. He has testified to the United States Congress and been invited to deliver a special closed door briefing to the ASEAN Defence Minister’s Meeting. In addition to scholarship and policy analysis, Joseph has also consulted for a wide range of multinationals including Shell, BHP Billiton, Chevron, Japan Bank for International Cooperation, Temasek, Total, and Statoil, as well as major global consultancies. He sits on the board of several peer-reviewed academic and policy journals, and is Singapore representative on the Experts and Eminent Persons Group of the ASEAN Regional Forum and the Trilateral Commission. He is also on the boards of the Social Science Research Council (Singapore), ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, and the National Arts Council. He will assume the position of Chairman, Middle East Institute on 1 September 2024.

He has degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Nanyang Technological University, and the London School of Economics and Political Science.