Gopinath Pillai
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Born
| 1937 (age 86–87)
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Alma mater
| University of Malaya
(
BA
)
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Occupations
| |
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Children
| 4
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Parent
| K.S. Pillai (father)
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Gopinath Pillai
(born 1937)
BBM
is a
Singaporean
diplomat and businessman who served served as an
ambassador-at-large
at the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
.
[1]
[2]
In 2012, Pillai was conferred the
Padma Shri
by the
Indian government
, the fourth highest Indian civilian award.
[3]
Early life
[
edit
]
Pillai was born in
Singapore
to K. S. Pillai, a journalist who ran a daily,
Kerala Bandhu
, known to be the only
Malayalam language
daily published outside India.
[2]
He spent eight years of his childhood in
Kerala
,
India
, where his family is from, as he could not return to Singapore due to the outbreak of
World War II
.
[2]
After the closure of the daily, his family finances dwindled and Pillai opted for a government-funded education.
[2]
He graduated from the
University of Malaya
with a
Bachelor of Arts
degree in 1961 and was a member of the Socialist Club.
[4]
[5]
Pillai started his career as a journalist with
Reuters
[4]
[6]
but had to abandon the job to fulfil his commitment to the government to work as a teacher, a prerequisite for availing government funding for education in Singapore.
[2]
He subsequently joined
Bangkok Bank
[4]
as an Economic Research Officer and worked as a correspondent for the
Far Eastern Economic Review
.
[2]
He worked at the bank for five years before moving to Malaysian Industrial Development Finance Bhd as an economist, during which Singapore had become a separate country in 1965.
[4]
He stayed in Malaysia until 1969, when he returned to Singapore with his family to take up an appointment as the head of a government-owned textile factory.
[2]
He later worked at United Industrial Corporation and then the State Trading Corporation
[2]
for around 10 years in total.
[5]
[7]
Pillai attends conferences and seminars and delivers keynote addresses.
[1]
[6]
[8]
He has authored two books,
The History of Banking in Thailand
[4]
[6]
and
The Political Economy of South Asian Diaspora: Patterns of Socio-Economic Influence
.
[9]
Public career
[
edit
]
Pillai served the first chairman of
NTUC FairPrice
after its establishment in 1983, a position he held until 1993.
[4]
He remains as a Trustee of NTUC FairPrice.
[10]
Pillai's diplomatic career started with his assignment with the Government Parliamentary Committee on Defence and Foreign Affairs in the 1980s.
[4]
In 1990, he was appointed as Singapore's Non-Resident Ambassador to
Iran
, a post he held until 2008.
[4]
[11]
He later served as Singapore's High Commissioner to
Pakistan
.
[2]
[4]
Pillai is a former
Ambassador-at-Large
at the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
.
[2]
[4]
[8]
[12]
[13]
Business career
[
edit
]
Pillai launched KSP Group along with two of his friends,
Sat Pal Khattar
and Haider Sithawalla, and holds the post of a Director of the company.
[2]
[10]
The company has since been rebranded as KSP Investments Private Limited, and serves as the holding company for Pillai's business investments.
[2]
He is reported to have invested in a number of businesses and holds positions in many of them. He is the executive chairman of Savant Infocomm, an IT company,
[4]
[5]
[10]
Playware Studios Pte Ltd
[14]
[15]
and holds the chairmanship of companies such as Windmill International Private Limited
[10]
[16]
and
Gateway Distriparks Limited
and one of its subsidiaries, Snowman Logistics Limited.
[2]
[5]
[10]
He is the director of another Gateway Distriparks subsidiary, Gateway Rail Freight Limited
[2]
and JTC Consultancy Services (Holdings) Private Limited.
[5]
He is also the director of AEC Edu Group Private Limited
[17]
and holds directorship of two of its subsidiaries, AEC College and AEC Education Plc.
[5]
[12]
Social career
[
edit
]
Pillai is the chairman of the Management Board of the Institute of South Asian Studies,
[4]
[8]
[10]
[12]
[18]
a
National University of Singapore
-funded research institute.
[19]
He also holds the post of the deputy chairman of Ang Mo Kio-Thye Hua Kwan Hospital
[4]
[6]
[8]
a healthcare centre in Singapore for rehabilitative care.
[20]
Awards and recognitions
[
edit
]
Pillai, a recipient of the Meritorious Award and Friend of Labour Award from
National Trades Union Congress
(NTUC)
[5]
[10]
and Distinguished Alumni Award from the
National University of Singapore
, received the MCD Award from the
Ministry of Community Development and Sports
in 1998.
[4]
[5]
[10]
In 1999, he received the
Public Service Star Award
.
[4]
[5]
[10]
[12]
Singapore Computer Society conferred on him the Friend of IT Award in 2001
[5]
[10]
and the Singaporean government honoured Pillai, in 2009, with the National Day Award.
[4]
The Indian government included him in the Republic Day honours list in 2012 for the civilian honour of
Padma Shri
.
[3]
[4]
[12]
In August 2022, he was conferred the
Darjah Utama Bakti Cemerlang
(Distinguished Service Order) by the Singapore government.
[21]
Personal life
[
edit
]
Pillai is married and the couple have four children.
[4]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
Further reading
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
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1950s
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1960s
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1970s
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1980s
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1990s
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2000s
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2010s
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2020s
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International
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National
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Other
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