The founding dean of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Kishore Mahbubani, said on Monday he was stepping down, four months after he stirred a heated debate in the city-state with the comment that small countries like Singapore must “always behave like small states”. In the statement to the school’s governing board, Mahbubani cited a double heart bypass operation last year and said he wanted to “focus on a new career that involves more time spent on reading, reflection and writing”. Mahbubani has spoken and published globally. His articles have appeared in a wide range of publications, including Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Financial Times and New York Times.