This is the historical memoir of Dr Poh Soo Kai, a medical doctor and a founder member of the People's Action Party. Here he tells the story of his incarceration as a political prisoner under Singapore's notorious Internal Security Act, and the anti-colonial struggle which defined the years after the Second World War.Poh was born in Singapore in 1930. He is the maternal grandson of prominent businessman Tan Kah Kee. After the Japanese surrender in 1945, he continued his studies at ...

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...

The May 13 generation was the first belonging to the immigrant communities from China to grapple with the issues of being Malayan/Singaporean, breaking irrevocably with the received wisdoms of their elders, and in a political climate where their explorations were deemed to be subversive.This book comprises the recollections penned by the participants of the era of the 1950s, where their generation was in the forefront of the anti-colonial movement, and the work of academic...