Bilahari Kausikan spent his entire career in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Singapore (MFA). Over 37 years in MFA, he served in a variety of appointments at home and abroad. These included Ambassador to the Russian Federation, Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York, Deputy Secretary for South-east Asia, Second Permanent Secretary, and subsequently Permanent Secretary. Upon retiring in 2013, he was appointed Ambassador-at-Large, a position he held until 2018.

Mr Kausikan became Chairman of the Middle East Institute, an autonomous institute of the National University of Singapore, in 2017, and retired in 2024, but remains associated with the institute as Distinguished Fellow.

Mr Kausikan has published three books -- “Dealing with an Ambiguous World” (2016), “Singapore Is Not An Island” (2017) and “Singapore Is Still Not An Island” (2023) -- along with many articles in local and international journals. He continues to lecture on global geopolitics, and developments in North-east Asia, the Middle East, and South-east Asia, to universities and other educational institutions in Singapore and abroad, as well as corporations and financial institutions.

Raffles Institution, the University of Singapore and Columbia University all attempted to educate him, but should not be held responsible for the consequences.