US President Donald Trump’s ambassador-nominee to Singapore, orthopaedic surgeon Anjani Sinha, has drawn online backlash following a grilling at his confirmation hearing, with Senator Tammy Duckworth accusing him of not doing his “homework”.
On Wednesday, the Illinois Democratic senator, who famously also put Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth in the hot seat over his lack of knowledge of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, criticised Sinha’s inability to correctly answer questions on the United States’ trade surplus with Singapore and when the city state would next chair Asean.
“This is not a role you can just pick up on a whim, or because you think it will be glamorous, or because Singapore is a great place to live,” said Duckworth during the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing before giving him a chance to “assuage” her doubt.
Asked how large the US trade surplus with Singapore was last year, Sinha responded with US$80 billion before correcting that figure to US$18 billion. Duckworth revealed it was US$2.8 billion and remarked he was “off by a huge factor”.
On when Singapore would be the Asean chair, Sinha quipped that Malaysia held the current position, prompting Duckworth to double down and ask him to answer the question. When he was unable to, she said: “2027”.
