The Fajar Generation

The Fajar Generation
Author: Soo Kai Poh
Publisher:
Total Pages: 328
Release: 2010
Genre: Malaya
ISBN: 9789833782871

‘The University Socialist Club (USC) was formed in February 1953. In the 1950s and 1960s the USC and its organ Fajar were a leading voice advocating the cause of the constitutional struggle for freedom and independence in peninsular Malaya and Singapore. In May 1954, the British colonial government arrested the entire editorial board of Fajar and charged them with sedition. In the subsequent high profile trial the Fajar Eight, as the members of the board had become popularly known, were acquitted. The monthly periodical continued to be published until it was banned in February 1963, following the massive wave of political arrests codenamed Operation Cold Store.

The Fajar Generation

The Fajar Generation
Author: Poh Soo Kai
Publisher: Function 8
Total Pages: 408
Release:
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 9811891176

The University Socialist Club (USC) was formed in February 1953. In the 1950s and 1960s the USC and its organ Fajar were a leading voice advocating the cause of the constitutional struggle for freedom and independence in peninsular Malaya and Singapore. In May 1954, the British colonial government arrested the entire editorial board of Fajar and charged them with sedition. In the subsequent high profile trial the Fajar Eight, as the members of the board had become popularly known, were acquitted. The monthly periodical continued to be published until it was banned in February 1963, following the massive wave of political arrests codenamed Operation Cold Store. This collection of essays by leading members of the USC provides a timely documentation and narrative of the personalities who contributed to the struggle for freedom and independence in both countries.

The University Socialist Club and the Contest for Malaya

The University Socialist Club and the Contest for Malaya
Author: Edgar Liao
Publisher: Amsterdam University Press
Total Pages: 704
Release: 2012
Genre: History
ISBN: 9089644091

"The book, using a small group of left-wing student activists as a prism, explores the complex politics that underpinned the making of nation-states in Singapore and Malaysia after World War Two. While most works have viewed the period in terms of political contestation groups, the book demonstrates how it is better understood as involving a shared modernist project framed by British-planned decolonization. This pursuit of nationalist modernity was characterized by an optimism to replace the colonial system with a new state and mobilize the people into a new relationship with the state, according them new responsibilities as well as new rights. This book, based on student writings, official documents and oral history interviews, brings to life various modernist strands - liberal-democratic, ethnic-communal, and Fabian and Marxist socialist - seeking to determine the form of post-colonial Malaya. It uncovers a hitherto little-seen world where the meanings of loud slogans were fluid, vague and deeply contested. This world also comprised as much convergence between the groups as conflict, including collaboration between the Socialist Club and other political and student groups which were once its rivals, while its main ally eventually became its nemesis"--Publisher's description.

My Odyssey

My Odyssey
Author: Jeyaraj C. Rajarao
Publisher: Strategic Information and Research Development Centre
Total Pages: 574
Release: 2022-12-06
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9672464630

This autobiography is reflective of the many dimensional attitudes of the author, Dato’ Jeyaraj C. Rajarao. As he recounts his life story it is evident that he has lived a life with passion, integrity, wit and mischief. A life of black and white, with very little grey in it. The narrative begins with a simple story of love that spans decades. It then takes the reader through a young boy’s experience of the Japanese occupation of Malaya until she gains independence. It is obvious that the political, social and economic situation of the period influenced Rajarao as a young boy and helped form his ideologies. Rajarao is hard-hitting and critical when he conveys his opinions about the activities of the Prime Minister, and his cohorts, that caused Malaysia to be regarded as the worst kleptocratic country in the world. However, the reader becomes aware of how much Rajarao loves and despairs for Malaysia as he shares how she is being torn apart by race and religion-based policies. No doubt, there is much that can be regarded as controversial or confrontational but that is inevitable when truth is told. The book is intensely personal and immensely interesting. He is brutally honest as he admits his mistakes and apologizes. This book is recommended reading for the young and the old, as it is both a history book as well as an autobiography. It is dribbled with sharp observations on life, and draws the reader into a different era, yet it also educates them and recommends a purpose driven life. The Odyssey is certainly most thought-provoking, enlightening and stimulating.

Studying Singapore's Past

Studying Singapore's Past
Author: Ping Tjin Thum
Publisher: NUS Press
Total Pages: 274
Release: 2012-07-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 9971696460

C.M. (Mary) Turnbull's contributions to historical writing on Singapore extended from her 1962 thesis, published in 1972 as "The Straits Settlements, 1826-1867: Indian Presidency to Crown Colony", to her magisterial history of Singapore, first published in 1977 and re-issued in 2009 in an updated edition as A History of Singapore, 1819-2005. Her approach to history involved detailed work with documents and published materials, with a particular focus on political and economic history. One contributor to the present volume described the book as an "exercise in endowing a modern 'nation-state' with a coherent past that should explain the present." As styles in history evolved, younger scholars including some of her former students and colleagues began exploring new approaches to historical research that drew on non-English-language souce material and asked fresh questions of the sources. Mary enjoyed controversy and expected debate, and had a deep interest in these accounts, which were in many ways a natural progression from her own publications even when they raised questions about her interpretations and conclusions. Studying Singapore's Past had its origins in a conference organised to discuss her work. The volume includes ten contributions, some from long-established scholars of Singapore's history, others from a new generation of researchers. Their work offers an evaluation of established understandings of Singapore's history, and gives an indication of new directions that researchers are exploring. In publishing the book, the editor not only pays tribute to a distinguished historian but also seeks to make a contribution to the historiography of Singapore and to ongoing debates about Singapore's past.

Comet in Our Sky

Comet in Our Sky
Author: Poh Soo Kai
Publisher: Function 8
Total Pages: 340
Release:
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 981189101X

Singapore's political firmament is crowded with stars who could have lit up to the island state's history, but were snuffed out by detention and harassment before they could do so. One of the brightest was probably Lim Chin Siong, who with Lee Kuan Yew, was one of the founders of the People's Action Party, but he spent more time in detention than representing his constituents. Lim Chin Siong was the most prominent left-wing leader in Singapore for a decade until he was eliminated from the political scene by the infamous Operation Coldstore on February 2, 1963. This book is an account of Lim’s significance in Singapore’s political developments in the decade preceding. It also contains tributes by his friends and colleagues in Singapore and Malaysia, an assessment of his life by many who were inspired by him. This new edition features an essay by Dr Poh Soo Kai and an extract from Lim’s posthumous manuscripts.

The 1963 Operation Coldstore in Singapore

The 1963 Operation Coldstore in Singapore
Author: Poh Soo Kai
Publisher: Function 8
Total Pages: 656
Release:
Genre: History
ISBN: 9811891168

Operation Coldstore remains the most contentious event in the history of postcolonial Singapore. Despite attempts by the state to silence ex-detainees, by warning that they would not be permitted to rewrite the state’s official version of history, the authors in this volume have done just that. They have placed on record their own perspective of events. The autobiographical element in the narratives brings to life what these individuals went through as left-wing political actors who responded to the call of anti colonialism and the challenge of shaping a new society. Their accounts of life in prison are a sober reminder of the deprivations and tortures inflicted to break their spirit. These stirring accounts are supplemented by academic contributions that provide contextual depth to the historical events and a critique of history writing in Singapore.

Sites of Modernity

Sites of Modernity
Author: Wasana Wongsurawat
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 184
Release: 2016-04-28
Genre: History
ISBN: 3662457261

This book investigates, compares and contrasts the experience of entering into and engaging in modernity and the modern era in many parts of the Asian continent. It focuses on the coming into being, development, and transformation of major urban centers from Tokyo to Mumbai from the late 19th century to the present, providing a broad overview of this crucial period of transition in Asia, not only from diverse geographical and historical perspectives, but also incorporating a broad range of further disciplines.

Retrospective

Retrospective
Author: June Yap
Publisher: Lexington Books
Total Pages: 367
Release: 2017-08-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 1498555829

Developed as an exploratory study of artworks by artists of Singapore and Malaysia, Retrospective attempts to account for contemporary artworks that engage with history. These are artworks that reference past events or narratives, of the nation and its art. Through the examination of a selection of artworks produced between 1990 and 2012, Retrospective is both an attribution and an analysis of a historiographical aesthetic within contemporary art practice. It considers that, by their method and in their assembly, these artworks perform more than a representation of a historical past. Instead, they confront history and its production, laying bare the nature and designs of the historical project via their aesthetic project. Positing an interdisciplinary approach as necessary for understanding the historiographical as aesthetic, Retrospective considers not only historical and aesthetic perspectives, but also the philosophical, by way of ontology, in order to broaden its exposition beyond the convention of historical and contextual interpretation of art. Yet, in associating these artworks with a historiographical aesthetic, this exposition may be regarded as a historiographical exercise in itself, affirming the significance of these artworks for the history of Singapore and Malaysia. In short, which history rarely is, Retrospective is about the art of historicisation and the historicisation of art.

An Uncommon Hero

An Uncommon Hero
Author:
Publisher: GB Gerakbudaya Enterprise S
Total Pages: 49
Release: 2011
Genre: Physicians
ISBN: 9675832274

Many witness momentous events in their lives, but few participate, much less leave their mark. Dr M. K Rajakumar, on the contrary, left an indelible mark at every phase of his eventful life.