Singapore’s Orchid Diplomacy: Benazir Bhutto honored in book on flowers named after world leaders

Celina Ali

Islamabad: Former Prime Minister Shaheed Benazir Bhutto is among the world leaders who featured in a unique book highlighting a Singapore’s tradition of naming the new orchid hybrids after the visiting foreign dignitaries.

Written by renowned author and editor Koh Buck Song and launched by Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, the book showcases the intricate process of hybridization of orchid, the national flower of Singapore.

The first-of-its-kind book highlights ‘Dendrobium’, which was named after former Prime Minister Shaheed Benazir Bhutto who had paid an official visit to Singapore from March 7-9, 1995.

“This orchid’s yellow colour, with its association with sunlight, represents warmth and happiness in Pakistani culture,” it says.

The book gives a historical account of her visit when she spoke at a lunch hosted by the Singapore Chamber of Commerce, and met overseas Pakistanis at a dinner reception.

She also delivered a keynote address at the Fortune Global Forum, where she said that, with the end of the Cold War, “the most critical elements of the integration of the world community, as we approach the new millennium, are information and business”,

“Around the world, Ms Bhutto was seen as a symbol of democracy and empowerment of women”, the book says and recalls her as the first democratically elected female leader of a Muslim country for her first term, and in second term, one of three female prime ministers in the Muslim world, alongside those of Bangladesh and Turkiye.

The book also mentions that after her assassination in 2007, Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong wrote a letter to her husband, now President Asif Ali Zardari, noting that she would be honoured and remembered for her “indomitable spirit” and “ultimate sacrifice”.

During his address at the book launch, Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan said that the orchid diplomatic practice dated back to 1956. Since then, over 280 orchid hybrids have been named after foreign dignitaries and international organizations as gestures of goodwill and friendship.