Dissident Voices in Singapore: Personalities in Singapore's Political History
Clement Mesenas
Singapore: Marshall Cavendish Editions, 2013
ISBN: 9789814398336

They stood firm on their convictions despite the odds. Some paid a heavy toll for their beliefs – deprivations, long prison terms, lonely lives in self-imposed exile. But they never broke. Some will say the unflinching attitude of these dissidents against what they perceived as coercive authority has been an exercise in futility. Yet other say the course of Singapore’s history might have been altered if their will had prevailed.

Their stories need to be told.

The first of it’s kind, this book will inform and educate. Rather than to glorify their tough stance, these memoirs are a record of human endurance. It exemplifies the extremes sacrifices some people will make in pursuit of their ideals. Written by veteran journalist and author Clement Mesenas, this book chronicles the lives of twenty of this country’s leading dissidents – including Lim Chin Siong, David Marshall and Ong Eng Guan, among many others.

Remembering the Samsui Women: Migration and Social Memory in Singapore and China
Kelvin E.Y. Low
British Columbia: University of British Columbia Press, 2014
ISBN: 9780774825757
Singapore: NUS Press, 2015
ISBN: 9789971698584

In the early twentieth century, thousands of women from the Samsui area of Guangdong, China migrated to Singapore during a period of economic and natural calamity, leaving their families behind. In their new country, many found work in the construction industry, with others working in households or factories where they were called hong tou jin, translated literally as "red-head-scarf," after the headgear that protected them from the sun.

In Singapore, the women have been celebrated as pioneering figures for their hard work and resilience, and in China for the sacrifices they made for their families. Kelvin Low explores the lives and legacy of the Samsui women, both through media and state representations and through the oral histories of the women themselves. Thus, his work sheds light on issues of their identity, both publicly constructed and self-defined, and explores why they undertook their difficult migration.

Remembering the Samsui Women is an illuminating study of the connection between memory and nation, including the politics of what is remembered and what is forgotten.

Hard Choices: Challenging the Singapore Consensus
Donald Low & Sudhir Thomas Vadaketh
Singapore: NUS Press, 2014
ISBN: 9789971698164

Singapore is changing. The consensus that the PAP government has constructed and maintained over five decades is fraying. The assumptions that underpin Singaporean exceptionalism are no longer accepted as easily and readily as before. Among these are the ideas that the country is uniquely vulnerable, that this vulnerability limits its policy and political options, that good governance demands a degree of political consensus that ordinary democratic arrangements cannot produce, and that the country's success requires a competitive meritocracy accompanied by relatively little income or wealth redistribution.

But the policy and political conundrums that Singapore faces today are complex and defy easy answers. Confronted with a political landscape that is likely to become more contested, how should the government respond? What reforms should it pursue? This collection of essays suggests that a far-reaching and radical rethinking of the country's policies and institutions is necessary, even if it weakens the very consensus that enabled Singapore to succeed in its first 50 years.

Nature Contained: Environmental Histories of Singapore
Timothy P. Barnard (ed.)
Singapore: NUS Press, 2014
ISBN: 9789971697907

How has Singapore's environment - and location in a zone of extraordinary biodiversity - influenced the economic, political, social and intellectual history of the island since the early 19th century? What are the antecedents to Singapore's image of itself as a City in a Garden? Grounding the story of Singapore within an understanding of its environment opens the way to an account of the past that is more than a story of trade, immigration and nation building.

Each of the chapters in this volume - focusing on topics ranging from tigers and plantations to trade in exotic animals and the greening of the city, and written by botanists, historians, anthropologists, and naturalists - examines how humans have interacted with and understood the natural environment on a small island in Southeast Asia over the past 200 years, and conversely how this environment has influenced humans.

Between the chapters are traveler's accounts and primary documents that provide eyewitness descriptions of the events examined in the text. In this regard, Nature Contained: Environmental Histories of Singapore provides new insights into the Singaporean past, and reflects much of the diversity, and dynamism, of environmental history globally.

Garden City Singapore: The Legacy of Lee Kuan Yew
Aileen Lau Tan (ed.)
Singapore: Suntree, 2014
ISBN: 9789810787189

This book examines the first-hand experience of those involved in shaping the horticultural development of Singapore, from the 1970s to the 1990s. They are Mr Wong Yew Kwan, Dr Chua Sian Eng, Professor Lee Sing Kong, Mr Choo Thiam Siew and Mrs Pamelia Lee, whose work enabled them to make far-reaching contributions on greening policies and activities in Singapore.

The driving force and main personage behind this decades-long process of transformational greening of Singapore has been Lee Kuan Yew, who took the lead in his capacity as then Prime Minister, to steer and beautify Singapore, to serve his people and also investors and tourists. Determined and dedicated, the authors saw to the setting up of a variety of services tasked at different levels and specialties to green and beautify the island. They often had to interpret, innovate and contemplate the needs of the far future, starting as they had to, with all the limitations of a newly independent and developing Singapore. It took expert knowledge, scientific training, imagination, and the resolve to execute the vision for a truly gardened city. They worked closely with Singapore's oft-dubbed master gardener, Lee Kuan Yew.

This was an exercise that shaped the Republic's physical and horticultural attributes so exemplary and admired around the world today. Once the environment improved from the 1960s, tourism, business deve opment and investments followed in natural succession. Today, the visual evidence of Lee Kuan Yew's legacy is clear to see and enjoy, leaving no corner of Singapore untended to, dovetailing from one need to another, for pleasure or recreation and to promote tourism and business. The book celebrates the efforts of the authors and Lee Kuan Yew's early vision of a Garden City.

Singapore Siu Dai: The SG Conversation in a Cup
Felix Cheong, PMan (illus.)
Singapore: Ethos Books, 2014
ISBN: 9789810788582

Life in Singapore is good, sometimes even -- dare we say it? -- absurd. In Singapore Siu Dai, Felix Cheong, with a little help from illustrator PMan, finds humour in the everyday. From our kiasu behaviour to weird geographical boundaries called GRCs and OB markers, no quirk is left unturned.

These 50 short stories, praised by Singapore’s top humorists for their brew of wit and snappy storytelling, will raise the so-called SG Conversation to a new, satirical pitch. So laugh along as we look forward to Singapore’s 50th birthday!

Singapore Raw: 25 Stories From 25 Years of News, Emotion, Wow
Dave Ang (ed.)
Singapore: Straits Times Press, 2014
ISBN: 9789814342643

Published in commemoration of The New Paper’s 25th anniversary, Singapore Raw: 25 stories from 25 years of news, emotion, wow contains 25 of its most memorable stories over the years. These are stories of love and hate, joy and despair, sacrifice and loss. Some you’ll remember, others you may have forgotten, and then, there are those which you may have missed.

Time has passed since these individuals and their stories were first published in The New Paper. How are they? Where are they now? Have they moved on? What are their plans? The New Paper team fanned out island-wide and beyond, retracing old steps and breaking new grounds as they checked in with the various persons to find out how they have been. Those featured include Singapore’s favourite football son Fandi Ahmad; eight-year-old Bryan Liu, who found a kidney donor through The New Paper; the infamous former international porn star Annabel Chong; disgraced ex-diplomat and former Romanian chargé d’affaires in Singapore Silviu Ionescu, among many others. They comprise of recaps, as well as the latest updates.

Weaved in between the pages are also stories not in the traditional sense of the word, but are nevertheless, narratives that make up the rich, unique tapestry of The New Paper. These include the history and evolution of The New Paper Big Walk, visual coverage of news, movies and of course, its very passionate, fever-pitch expert coverage of football – from the Malaysia Cup, the S-League, the English Premier League, to even the European Championships and the World Cup.

Whether it is a piece of breaking news, an issue, a controversy, an incident or a dispute, at the very core, The New Paper always tells stories. Stories of people and human emotions engaged and played out in the daily drama of life. This is where The New Paper has its roots – deep in the hearts of the everyday man.