Opening Address by Mr Ng Cher Pong, Chief Executive Officer, National Library Board, at the Official Book Launch of Backlash: Donald Trump and The Remaking of America, 14 January 2025 at The Pod, National Library Building

Ambassador-at-Large, Professor Chan Heng Chee

Mr Nirmal Ghosh, author of Backlash

Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen

  1. A warm welcome to the National Library and to the launch of the book Backlash: Donald Trump and the Remaking of America, by Nirmal Ghosh.
  1. In just a few days’ time, Donald Trump will be inaugurated as the 47th president of the United States. Given the importance of the United States as an economic and military superpower and the current state of the world, Trump’s return to the White House will have implications for both Americans and for people living in the rest of the world. It is particularly important for us, from a small and open economy and nation, to understand these implications. The launch of this volume is therefore very timely.
  1. In the immediate post-election period, much ink has been spilled in attempting to explain how Mr Trump was able to win both the popular vote and the electoral college. However, much of this analysis has come from American commentators speaking to an American audience (or from a global investments point of view).
  1. Nirmal Ghosh’s book, on the other hand, is an effort to explain Mr Trump’s victory to non-American audiences, written by someone who is himself an outsider. This concise volume, just under 150 pages long, is an examination of American society and provides fascinating insights into the underlying factors that were responsible for the discontent with the status quo and the appeal of Mr Trump. Having spent seven years recently as the Washington DC bureau chief of the Straits Times, Nirmal is in a unique position to explain America to the rest of the world.
  1. I am glad that Nirmal has chosen to launch this book here at the National Library. As part of our Libraries & Archives Blueprint to nurture an informed citizenry, NLB’s libraries remain one of the enduring spaces for public good where anyone can freely access knowledge and gather varied perspectives that help us make sense of the world around us.
  1. Given Singapore’s abiding interest in global affairs, it is, of course, vital for us to understand the United States. Few people are as aware of this as Singapore’s Ambassador-at-Large, Professor Chan Heng Chee. Professor Chan has been Singapore’s permanent representative to the United Nations and also, for many years, Singapore’s ambassador to the US.
  1. It now gives me great pleasure to yield the stage to Professor Chan for the launch of this book. Prof Chan, over to you.