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Straits Times
3 days ago
- Politics
- Straits Times
Made In Singapore: ‘Orchid diplomacy' has flowers named after Obama, Pope Francis and Jackie Chan
Find out what's new on ST website and app. Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher is one of the many heads of state that Singapore has named an orchid after. SINGAPORE – 'Selected for vigour and the amount of growth it produces,' remarked then British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, as she posed for photos with an orchid named after her in the Singapore Botanic Gardens. It was 1985, and that was the explanation from Singapore's then commissioner of parks and recreation on why this orchid hybrid was chosen for the 'Iron Lady'. That antelope dendrobium – with petals resembling antelope horns, the result of breeding from a New Guinea orchid that is 'an outstanding species as a stud' – would thereafter be known as the Dendrobrium Margaret Thatcher. Mrs Thatcher is not alone. From Iran's former empress Farah Pahlavi to Myanmar's Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, there are over 280 orchid hybrids named after foreign dignitaries and key events – making Singapore's orchid diplomacy programme the most extensive of its kind in the world. This is the Republic's answer to national soft power initiatives like China's panda diplomacy, says local writer Koh Buck Song, who authored the 2024 book Singapore's Orchid Diplomacy. 'The practice is not totally unique, but what is unique is the scale and way it is practised in Singapore,' the branding expert tells The Straits Times. Indonesia has a similar practice, while the Netherlands and Japan incorporate tulips and cherry blossoms respectively into their foreign affairs. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. 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Mr Koh notes that a country's branding often revolves around abstract ideas and attributes – in short, soft power. 'Orchid diplomacy belongs in that category.' Still, not every foreign dignitary has an orchid hybrid named in his or her honour. For much of the practice's history, many of its recipients were not world leaders at all. The wifely roots of orchid diplomacy While the Singapore Botanic Gardens' orchid hybridisation programme dates back to 1928, the first VIP orchid was named after Lady Anne Black, wife of a former British colonial governor, in 1956. The Aranthera Anne Black, a crimson orchid with tendrilled petals, set a precedent that persisted for decades. The Aranthera Anne Black was the Republic's first VIP orchid. ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI In Singapore's post-independence years, when the state began holding orchid-naming ceremonies, many honourees were women – often the wives of visiting dignitaries. In 1978, The Straits Times reported that 36 orchid hybrids had been named after these wives. Over the years, this list has grown to include Imelda Marcos, wife of former Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos; Hazel Hawke, wife of former Australian prime minister Bob Hawke; and Khin Khin Win, wife of former president of Myanmar Thein Sein. This reflected the gender norms of the time, as gardening was seen as a woman's realm, while statecraft was a largely male-dominated affair. Naming orchids after the wives of foreign dignitaries was a common practice as part of Singapore's cultural and 'soft power' diplomacy. PHOTO: ST FILE Former Sri Lankan prime minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike and then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi were the world's first and second female prime ministers. Both had orchids named in their honour during their visits to Singapore in 1968 and 1971 respectively. State visits meant that male dignitaries would mostly discuss diplomatic relations, while their wives posed for photographs with orchids. This practice began to shift by the 1980s. In 1981, then Crown Prince Akihito of Japan (who would later become Emperor) had a red orchid hybrid named after him – 11 years after a purple-white orchid was named after his wife, Princess Michiko. Dendrobium Michiko was named after Princess Michiko of Japan when she visited the Singapore Botanic Gardens in 1970. ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI In later years, joint naming would become commonplace. In 1999, Madam Lao An, wife of then Premier of China Zhu Rongji, picked out a dark red orchid to be named after both of them. Likewise, then US Vice-President Joe Biden and his wife Jill were honoured with a purple orchid in 2013 – a colour meant to symbolise American bipartisanship. Purple combines blue and red, the colours representing the Democratic and Republican parties. Dendrobium Joe and Jill Biden. PHOTO: NPARKS Today, orchid diplomacy is typically reserved for heads of state or government, or royalty, says Ms Ang Qing Yu, who heads a visits and functions team from the protocol directorate at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA). 'It's a symbol of (Singapore's) soft power, and I think it's really come a long way in terms of how we conduct diplomacy,' she adds. She has been involved in orchid diplomacy for two years. Whose orchids? The honour extends beyond elected officials and wives. At least 22 orchid hybrids are named after royals – from King Mswati III of Swaziland to Queen Mata'aho of Tonga to Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan. At least 19 are named after celebrities, from movie stars Jackie Chan and Shah Rukh Khan to American tennis great Serena Williams to Italian fashion designer Frida Giannini. The youngest person to have an orchid namesake is Australian Bindi Irwin, daughter of the late celebrity-conservationist Steve Irwin. She was 14 at the time, in 2013. People are not the only recipients. Organisations like the World Trade Organisation and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) also have orchids in their name. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Asean in 2017, a golden apricot-coloured orchid, which traces its lineage to species native to several member countries, was named the Papilionanda Asean Golden Jubilee. The National Parks Board (NParks) declined to provide a full list of VIP orchid hybrids, and notes that not all orchid hybrids were created by its orchid hybridisation programme. MFA adds that it was not involved in orchid hybrids that were not named after foreign dignitaries. Ms Ang Qing Yu, who heads a visits and functions team from the protocol directorate at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, often participates in the planning process for orchid gifting. ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI Floral faux pas Mr Harold Johnson, who co-authored a book on Singapore's national flower, the Vanda Miss Joaquim, told local Tamil news outlet Tabla in 2011 that while the practice is unique, the orchids are most likely forgotten by their recipients unless they are orchid growers themselves. 'Unfortunately, few of the VIP orchids make it to either the local or international market,' he had said at the time. 'Used judiciously, such naming is a great and unique act of friendship, but over-usage can lessen the honour.' When Ms Irwin had an orchid named after her in 2013, it drew a complaint from a reader of The Straits Times, asking: 'Are there rules to orchid naming?' Some orchid names are also better received than others. During a 2016 state dinner in the US, then Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong made a jab at conspiracy theories about then President Barack Obama not being born in the United States, while presenting the Dendrobium Barack and Michelle Obama. 'This is a hybrid of breeds native to Singapore and Hawaii, where the President was born – most of us believe,' Mr Lee said, to laughter from dinner guests. In contrast, then British Prime Minister David Cameron's orchid became the subject of mockery by the British press in 2015 because of an innocuous oversight. The orchid's purplish hues resembled the colours of the rival UK Independence Party, rather than Mr Cameron's Conservative Party. 'David Cameron has an orchid named after him during a trip to Singapore which is 'Ukip purple' – although officials insist it is 'shades of blue',' quipped the Daily Telegraph. Planting seeds of diplomacy The stakes of orchid diplomacy – and the potential for faux pas – partly explain how the practice has changed over the years. While once foreign dignitaries simply selected their orchids either in person or through photos, the process now follows a different and complex set of protocols. When MFA learns of an upcoming visit – sometimes with only a few weeks' or days' notice – it consults the visiting country about naming preferences, colour taboos and special requests, says Ms Ang. The birth certificate for Dendrobium Andrzej and Agata Duda, the orchid hybrid named after the President of the Republic of Poland and his spouse, contains information such as the pollination date. PHOTO: NPARKS A 'birth certificate' must also be prepared, explaining the orchid's lineage and creation process. For Pope Francis' 2024 visit to Singapore , the months of planning involved some back and forth with the Vatican over orchids. There was a preference that it should be white, as it turned out. All of this culminated in President Tharman Shanmugaratnam presenting the pontiff with the Dendrobium His Holiness Pope Francis at Parliament House. It was the first time an orchid-naming ceremony was live-streamed to viewers across the globe. Pope Francis with President Tharman Shanmugaratnam at the pontiff's state address at the NUS University Cultural Centre on Sept 12, 2024. The orchid between the two leaders, the Dendrobium His Holiness Pope Francis, was earlier named in the pontiff's honour at a Parliament House event. PHOTO: ST FILE 'His face just lit up when he saw the orchid. That's a memory that will be with me for a long time,' says Ms Ang. Dendrobium His Holiness Pope Francis. PHOTO: NPARKS Orchid diplomacy is also linked to Singapore's approach to foreign policy, says Mr Koh. That so many 'seemingly small and insignificant' countries would have an orchid dedicated to their leaders ties into Singapore's active engagement in the Forum of Small States. Founded by Singapore in 1992, the Forum addresses shared concerns and amplifies the voices of small nations within the United Nations. Singapore's petal pushers Growing these botanical gifts is no simple task. Each orchid hybrid can take anywhere between two and five years to create, from initial breeding to ceremony-ready maturity. The process blends both scientific knowledge and artistic vision, says Mr Mark Choo, who has bred orchid hybrids for eight years as assistant curator of the National Orchid Garden, which is under NParks and the Singapore Botanic Gardens. For the Singapore Botanic Gardens, 2025 is a year of triple milestones: its 10th anniversary as a Unesco World Heritage Site; the National Orchid Garden's 30th birthday; and the 150th anniversary of the Singapore Herbarium and Library of Botany and Horticulture. Until July 27, visitors to the gardens can also catch the Singapore Garden Festival Orchid Show, which includes award-winning and heritage varieties, and is planned by NParks and Orchid Society of South East Asia. More than 650 orchids, from cool-weather varieties to tropical hybrids, will be on display. And none of these hybrids are born with a name or person in mind, says Mr Choo. 'We just keep creating, because there are failure rates at every point of the way, so we do need to have a high volume of hybrids that we make.' Failure can come from seed pods not germinating, overly wet or hot conditions, or contamination in the laboratory. Even when things go right, the resulting plant can lack robustness or bloom in colours that are just not vibrant enough. 'That is something we can't prevent or predict, so when that happens, we can't use those plants,' says Mr Choo, who is one of five to six staff members working on hybridisation. Mr Mark Choo has bred orchid hybrids for eight years as assistant curator of the National Orchid Garden. ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI At any given time, there are at least 50 hybrids in development – and two to three flowering specimens ready to be named. These must be robust, free-flowering, colourful and, ideally, distinctive in shape. For all its importance, breeding new hybrids for orchid diplomacy forms only a small subset of Mr Choo's work at the National Orchid Garden. 'I usually like to do my orchid breeding at the end of the day, when I feel more relaxed and no one's around any more,' he says. It is not as simple as taking pollen from one orchid and putting it in another – as pushing boundaries, in the form of vibrant blooms and distinctive shapes, calls for endless experimentation and reliance on institutional knowledge. 'Things that have never been done before, we push those kinds of boundaries,' he says. 'The possibilities of orchid breeding are quite endless.' The afterlife of VIP orchids With few exceptions, most VIP orchid hybrids do not stray far from their birthplace in the Republic. This means the rare occasions when they get to spread their roots abroad can deliver foreign relations highlights. The Dendrobium Kishida Fumio, named after the Japanese Prime Minister in 2022, found a new home in the Hiroshima Botanical Garden, where it blossomed in winter. 'It was freezing outside, but inside, the orchid was blooming,' says Mr Koh. 'The Japanese love hanami, and that was a Singaporean hanami.' Hanami refers to the Japanese custom of enjoying the transient beauty of flowers. Elaborate logistics are involved in making these floral voyages possible. 'It sounds nice and fun, but there's a lot of stress in making sure the orchids can cross borders,' says Mr Choo. He was part of the entourage transporting the Dendrobium Barack and Michelle Obama to the US capital in 2016. Mr Mark Choo says orchid hybrids are difficult to transport abroad. ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI Documentation must be secured to ensure the plants meet the phytosanitary requirements of the destination country, and to ensure inspections do not unintentionally destroy the plants. Arrangements also have to be made for NParks staff to hand-carry VIP orchids onto the plane, so the flowers are not tossed about in a freezing cargo hold. 'Because it couldn't fit in the overhead cargo, we had to buy a seat,' he recalls. The presidential orchids sat in a big box in economy class. While VIP orchids may get VIP treatment, it appears that they do not fly business class. After the blossoming Post-ceremony, orchids can typically live on – and be grown again for successive generations – for four to 10 years. Unlike their longer-lived wooded cousins, 'they lose vigour', says Mr Choo. To keep them around, the National Orchid Garden clones orchids. This is a time-consuming process that can take four to five years, while also allowing the hybrid to be stored in the laboratory, slowing down the ageing process and keeping them viable for a longer period of time. Some hybrids can also be recreated, if their breeding process is not overly complicated. 'We do our best to try and maintain stock, but some plants just can't be cloned any more,' says Mr Choo. Still, many of the hybrids mentioned in this story still exist in some form. Selected hybrids are displayed at the VIP Orchid Garden when they are in bloom – including the oldest among them, the Aranthera Anne Black. Inside the culture room, the plantlets grow in an environment with just the right temperature, lighting and humidity. ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI Why flower power? Orchid diplomacy is one part of Singapore's cultural diplomacy, but it is not the only one. All manner of celebrities and foreign dignitaries, from American singer Lady Gaga to French President Emmanuel Macron, have been spotted feasting on local hawker staples at Maxwell Food Centre and Lau Pa Sat – both common stops in state visits. And orchids are not even the country's only attempt at horticultural diplomacy. Former South African president Nelson Mandela has an orchid named after him, bearing the hues of the South African flag. But he is also one of many figures that Singapore has named a tree after as part of its Tree of Fame programme. The honourees include former emperor of Iran Reza Pahlavi, then Vice-Premier of China Deng Xiaoping and Errol Walton Barrow, former prime minister of Barbados. Unlike orchid naming at the time, this practice appears to have placed a greater focus on male leaders. It eventually died out by the late 1970s. The enduring power of orchids comes down to the same things that make other soft-power initiatives – like China's panda diplomacy and South Korea's K-wave – successful, says Mr Koh. There is a uniqueness to orchids, which Singapore has embraced by recognising the Vanda Miss Joaquim as its national flower in 1981, resulting in the flower becoming one of the Republic's most visible icons. Dr Yu Hao, head of the National University of Singapore's department of biological sciences, calls Singapore's orchid diplomacy a creative and effective example of turning botanic heritage and expertise into a tool for diplomatic engagement. 'It demonstrates how even relatively small countries can use soft power to foster international goodwill,' he says. While other sources like Taiwan and Thailand excel in mass production, Singapore stands out for how it blends advanced technology with diplomatic strategy, Dr Yu adds. His lab is pioneering orchid-breeding research using gene editing, and has created the world's first kilobase-scale gene-editing platform for orchids. The personal touch Orchid naming represents a special personal touch as a unique honour that is rarely experienced, even by the most worldly or wealthy of travellers. 'I can't imagine anything nicer than having an orchid named after yourself,' said Mrs Laura Bush, then First Lady of the United States, in 2002 during a state visit to Singapore when one was named in her honour. And during a state visit to Singapore in June 2025, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto asked to name his orchid after his late mother 'for having raised maybe a difficult boy in his younger days, but finally he became president of Indonesia'. The result: Paraphalanthe Dora Sigar Soemitro. Once given, these orchids can have a 'multiplier effect', becoming a form of branding by diffusion that 'gains a life of its own' as part of botanical gardens and horticultural festivals across the globe, says Mr Koh. For orchid breeders like NParks' Mr Choo, the success of the initiative comes down to a simple thing: It is nice to make people happy with a thoughtful gift. 'And I don't think it's very easy to make heads of state happy,' he says. Book It/Singapore Garden Festival Orchid Show Where: National Orchid Garden, Singapore Botanic Gardens, 1 Cluny Road When: July 19 to 27; 8.30am to 7pm daily (last admission at 6pm) Admission: Free for Singapore residents; $15 for non-residents Info: Go to for more details. For a self-guided tour, take along this map:
The Guardian
08-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Forget left and right: Norman Tebbit was a working-class hero. Politicians now could learn much from him
The word 'icon' is perhaps thrown around rather liberally in the lexicon of memorial. But in the realm of Tory politics, Norman Tebbit, whose death was announced today, was an icon – the politician who perhaps came closest, save of course for the Iron Lady herself, to embodying the phenomenon of Thatcherism. Why? He was not cast in the grouse-moor mould of the Harold Macmillan era, to be sure; but nor was Edward Heath, and little affection won he by that. (Nor, indeed, was Margaret Thatcher.) There was, perhaps, a degree of exoticism about his working-class background in the front rank of Tory politics in what was a much more class-conscious era. But Tebbit was no exotic pet, and nor would he have made such an impression on the public consciousness had he been so. Rather, he managed to personally embody a deeper, seismic shift in British politics: the Conservative party's decisive, and enormously successful, play for a large slice of the working-class vote. It is the nature of revolutionary myth-making to sometimes overstate a transformation. Working-class Toryism long predates Thatcherism, be that its Protestant and Unionist manifestations in Ulster, Scotland, and Liverpool or the more widespread tendency, noted by George Dangerfield in his 1935 classic The Strange Death of Liberal England, for working men to support the party that had no time for teetotalism. But while the nation's pubs might once have been a 'chain of political fortresses' for the party of Lord Salisbury, one can only imagine what he would have made of a working-class man serving as chairman of the Conservative and Unionist party. But then, ironically, a facility for evolution has always (until recently) been the party's strongest suit. Yet personally embodying a change is not enough to make an icon. Alone it produces at best a totem, or perhaps that should be a token; a passive object to be hoisted aloft to signal the party's adaptation to changing times. No, what made Tebbit an icon was that he believed in that change and he fought for it. He was a fighter, at a point when the party needed fighters, a true believer in what was in its early years a deeply uncertain revolution, and a bulwark for his leader against the forces of genteel reaction that would certainly, had the opportunity presented itself, have ditched her and her experiment alike. It would be an ugly politics that comprised solely each side's furious partisans. But it would be a very hollow politics that made space only for conciliators. There is an easy route to a faction's heart for a politician willing and able to be their tribune of the plebs, but that doesn't mean the job can't be well and honourably done, and Tebbit did it honourably and well. The latter is best illustrated by his star turns on the conference platform. Obviously, there was his (in)famous comment about getting on one's bike and looking for work. But more significant, in light of subsequent events, must be his call-and-response routine at the 1992 conference. 'Do you want to be part of a European union?', he asked the hall; the 'NO!' all but took the roof off. All this infuriated John Major, of course; one wonders if either seriously thought they would both live to see Britain leave it. Tebbit paid a heavier price than most for his frontline political career; the Brighton bombing saw him trapped under the rubble for an hour and, much more seriously, paralysed his wife, Margaret, for whom he subsequently cared. But like the true believer he was, he remained involved in the party and what became the Eurosceptic cause. He also managed a decade in the spotlight without acquiring airs and graces, and in the digital age proved more than willing to wade into the comments beneath his Telegraph blog and have it out with all and sundry. Courage, energy, authenticity – these Tebbit had in spades, and they are the things of which political icons are made. One might quibble that my definition makes little reference to the actual content of Tebbit's beliefs. But that is deliberate. He certainly held many views with which readers of this newspaper would profoundly disagree, then and now, and his views on social issues were wildly out of step with modern society. But an icon is not a hero, except perhaps in the Greek sense; recognising one does not require agreeing with all or even any of what they stand for. Every movement will have its own icons, and one of democracy's great strengths – or indeed, basic requirements – is recognising that there is space in public life for more than one. In fact, as a Conservative, it does with hindsight seem to have been a stronger, more vital Conservative party whose chairman was a substantial figure who could, occasionally, embarrass the leader. Henry Hill is deputy editor of ConservativeHome
Spectator
23-06-2025
- Politics
- Spectator
Badenoch: Tories are ‘the adults in the room'
It is a year of two major anniversaries for the Tories. The first is the centenary of Margaret Thatcher's birth; the second is the half-centenary since she was elected leader. To mark the occasion, the think-tank Policy Exchange is laying on a series of events to commemorate the Iron Lady. Today's was a sit down interview between Thatcher's biographer, Charles Moore, and Kemi Badenoch, one of Thatcher's successors. The conversation between the pair was an engaging one, aimed at highlighting Badenoch's ability to grasp the major issues of our time. Some of her remarks were punchy: like her suggestion that the UK 'is being cut out of intelligence' on the Iran crisis 'because we cannot be trusted'. Others were familiar: her insistence that Reform is 'not serious… somebody has to be the adult in the room. We are the adults in the room, and sometimes it is not popular to be the adults in the room.' There was a hint of policy too. Badenoch confirmed she 'had looked at' Denmark's so-called 'ghetto laws', under which social housing areas with high levels of deprivation and a 'non-Western' population above 50 per cent are declared 'parallel societies'. She said she wanted something 'along the lines' of this policy, noting the disparities in population 'and so many other things that would require adjustments, but that sort of thing, yes.' Much of it was good, sensible stuff for the various attendees nodding along in the think-tank's headquarters. But the question is: was anyone listening? The room might have been crammed been full of dozens of the great-and-the-good of the British right. Yet online, the likes of GB News, Daily Express and Policy Exchange struggled to get more than 40 viewers on their respective live streams. Lord Moore made a good point when comparing Badenoch's leadership to the early days of her predecessor. Back then, in 1978, Thatcher only had to say one word on migration – 'swamped' – and the polls began to move in her favour. Now, with Reform on the right, the bar for cut-through has risen much higher. Given the current pace of politics, it will be interesting tomorrow to compare the coverage of this event to that afforded to Nigel Farage and Robert Jenrick's speeches today. Badenoch and her team believe that, ultimately, their patience will be rewarded. They point to her record in being proved right on self-ID and Kneecap's funding in government; her victories in opposition by forcing Labour to U-turn on winter fuel and an inquiry into grooming gangs inquiry. Yet to seize back power after a record defeat, she will need to not merely show that the Tories are not merely the adults in the room – but ones worth listening to as well.
Telegraph
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
The Daily T: What the Left gets wrong about Margaret Thatcher
She is simultaneously one of the most loved and hated figures in British history. But Margaret Thatcher certainly made an indelible mark on our politics. Broadcaster and political commentator Iain Dale is the author of Thatcher, a new book on the Iron Lady, which seeks to bust some of the myths around our first female prime minister and introduce her to a younger audience. Camilla and Gordon speak to Iain about his personal interactions with Thatcher – including coming dangerously close to vomiting on her shoes – and what she would have made of Brexit and Nigel Farage.
Telegraph
08-06-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Norman Strauss
My strategy got the Iron Lady into office – this is what our nation's leaders need to know about governing
