“Based on my dealings with him, I have found that he, like several of his predecessors, has tried to ensure that the relationship between the two countries continues to be strong,” Shanmugam wrote in a Facebook post on Monday, after the report was published on March 1.
Shanmugam met Kaplan for a working breakfast meeting on Thursday – a day before the report’s release – where they discussed a “broad range of matters”. The minister said he has always found Kaplan to be “proactive and helpful”.
The US Office of Inspector General’s 45-page report on the operations of the US embassy in Singapore found that Kaplan, a tech entrepreneur and Democratic campaign donor, had “developed poor relationships with some ministries and his actions, in some cases, hurt progress” on the US’ diplomatic goals.
“Specifically, it was described that the ambassador often was unprepared on issues and made statements that were counterproductive to a section’s work,” it stated.
Embassy employees who were interviewed as part of the inspector general’s regular review process “described a fear, and even direct threats, of reprisal” from Kaplan, describing his “mannerisms with personnel as belittling and intimidating”.
The report also recommended that the State Department conduct a deeper investigation into Kaplan’s conduct.
Kaplan has since stated that he takes “full responsibility for quickly addressing the concerns and recommendations found in the report”, according to a report by Bloomberg. He was confirmed as ambassador to Singapore in late 2021.
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The ambassador has also spent almost US$10,000 on consulting expenditures, US$48,000 on outstanding travel fees, and around US$27,000 on a party on a visiting US Navy ship, the inspector general’s report said.
The expenses had led the embassy to “reduce funding for other public diplomacy programmes that might have more effectively advanced US interests in Singapore,” it stated.
“The ambassador did not hold himself to the highest standards of conduct, performance, and ethics to model integrity.”
Besides Shanmugam, Bilahari Kausikan, a former permanent secretary in the Singapore foreign ministry, has also chimed in on the matter.
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“He is not – in my opinion at least – the worst political appointee the US has sent to us,” Kausikan wrote in a Facebook post on Saturday.
“And in my experience the US has sent at least two excellent political appointees to us. Whether professional or political appointees, whether the US or other countries, a new ambassador is always a roll of the dice. And no doubt, other countries are saying the same thing about our ambassadors.”
Before his role as ambassador, Kaplan had no government experience. He was formerly the chief executive at Pure Digital, which invented the Flip Video pocket camera.