I am attempting to write, what some people call, an “autobiographical history’ which links the personal and the general, the individual and the social and political. This is my story but also Singapore’s story and stories of people I know – the social, cultural and political life that we had experienced through the years beginning from independence. I was old enough when Singapore became independent and to participate in the first elections.

There are many books on Singapore – the PAP stories; Mr. Lee Kuan Yew’s Singapore; the anti PAP books, books by opposition party members and dissidents. I am interested, in a very modest way, to write the experience of becoming a Singaporean from my perspective and the perspective of others like me, who had lived in Singapore and experienced the changes of the past 50 or so years.

In his book “Identity, Culture and the Postmodern World”, Madam Sarup writes about this particular genre of “autobiographical history’ as a writing that explores the autobiographical self and its place in history; it is an attempt at an autobiography which understands the self as a product of history and class … [and race]. It is a self-conscious construction of a narrative at different levels, a narrative that deals with change, both personal and social, historical and [political].

At the moment I am like a detective looking for clues, little pieces of jigsaw puzzle – stories, memories, anecdotes about our lives. I ask myself, how did I become who I am? What are our influences? What is it like experiencing life in Singapore?

If anybody has interesting anecdotes do share them with me and allow me to include them in my book.