Singapore is often known as a ‘clean’ country and its citizens ‘law-abiding’. However, every once in a while, the island has been shocked by an incident or a crime so unexpected and shocking, it grabs headlines and piques the interest of locals and international press alike.
Spanning across all kinds of crimes, this collection has one thing in common – shock value. Cases covered in the book include high-profile ones like the NKF scandal, the City Harvest Church debacle, Singapore’s most-wanted terrorist, Mas Selamat, and how one man in Singapore – Nick Leeson – brought down one of the UK’s oldest financial institutions, Barings Bank. Plus, there are a few shocking murders thrown in too.
This book is a collection for anyone interested in Singapore society, law and history, to find out more about how these cases were discovered, the law-enforcement processes that followed and what happened to the offenders after the cases ended.
Archives: Books
The Golden Realm
Pula has now metamorphosed into a formidable fighter.
He is just like his father, Sikat, the aging Datuk who holds a massive realm on the northernmost tip of Borneo. It is during a time when the early datuks rule the Southeast Asian region, sometime in 400 AD.
But an incident erupts-the neighbours, D’yak people who have gory practices of headhunting, try to stir trouble in the realm. In response, Datuk Sikat sends his highest officer to infiltrate the den of Jooba and obliterate their kind, a savage and vicious threat.
And as the kadatuan reels on a major war with the headhunters, Tali his eldest, has a sinister plan. He longs for the throne of his father, but his half-brother, Pula, stands in his way. Who will succeed to be the next datuk of the realm?
Th e story continues with the amazing encounters of Pula of the diverse tribes of Borneo and the Philippines, leading to his discovery of the Golden Realm.
Banaag at Sikat (Radiance and Sunrise)
Lope K Santos’ novel, Banaag at Sikat, is a love story framed in the context of a political tale. Published in 1906, it became the fountain head of social realism in the Tagalog novel and hailed as Asia’s first proletariat novel. It revolves around Delfin, a poor man in love with Meni, a capitalist’s daughter. Delfin is a socialist while Felipe, his friend, is an anarchist. Delfin wants the citizens to have more rights in business and property relations. He believes that society could be changed through education. On the other hand, Felipe believes in tearing down society’s walls. Factories should be owned by those who work there and land owned by those who till it. Although he is a landlord’s son, Felipe hates his father’s ways. He wants to see a society with equal status for all, where the horizon of hope is limitless. Banaag at Sikat mirrors the clash of forces during the early days of the American empire. Its burning passages on race, class, and colonialism still resonate today. Translated by ‘one of Asia’s best writers’, may this modern rendering inspire new readers to shape their lives so they ‘can help change the world’.
Bloody Saturday
Saturday, August 14, 1937 – that summer Shanghai was expecting to be hit by a typhoon of ‘violent intensity’. The typhoon passed, but what did strike Shanghai was a man-made typhoon of bombs and shrapnel that brought aerial death and destruction such as no city had ever seen before. The clock outside the Cathay Hotel stopped at 4.27 p.m. precisely as the first bombs landed on the junction of the Nanking Road and the Bund; the second wave of explosions struck the dense crowds outside the Great World amusement centre in the French Concession. Bloody Saturday reconstructs the events of that dreadful day from eyewitness accounts.
The House on Calle Sombra – A parable
The House on Calle Sombra follows the fates and fortunes of the esteemed Castillo de Montijo family over three generations. Set in the Philippines – a tropical island nation where truth blends with fiction – none of the Castillos is quite as perceived. Successful patriarch Don Federico arrived from Spain a penniless orphan. Formidable matriarch Doña Fatimah is a native Muslim fugitive. And their brood of privileged descendants is struggling to live up to their famed and crested motto: FAMILY FIRST.
Mirroring events in the country’s turbulent history, the Castillos’ perfect façade begins to fracture as shadows from their past return to claim their due.
Sardonic, witty, and brutally frank, The House on Calle Sombra is an ode to family, and a compelling exploration of how greed, love, and trauma are passed down through generations.
The Macanese Pro-Wrestler’s Cookbook
Macau, that redolent, overcrowded hive of faded Portuguese culture, glossy American casinos, and overarching Mainland governance is what hapless, lovelorn Zeke Oliveira calls home. An eccentric himself, for the most part he’s at ease with the city’s eccentricities, but when his best friend is murdered Zeke goes on a search for those responsible, a search that takes him into an undercurrent of crime beneath the city that he never knew existed. An adventure, a social commentary and an unconventional cookbook, The Macanese Pro-Wrestler’s Cookbook is ultimately the portrait of a man struggling to find a balance between the cultural identity he has inherited and his own individual destiny.
Silence in the Land of Gold
Molly Durberville and George Wilford, foreign lawyers working in the country, are assigned to untangle the legal issues surrounding a plane crash. They are led to a struggle between the Burmese military and the Kachin Independence Army. Ultimately, they realize that the origin of the crash has been from within their law firm. Though Molly has been assigned to spy on George, through their adventures they become lovers. George is torn by his realization, however, that Molly is attracted to Zaw Dan, a general in the Kachin army. One facet of the novel examines the legal profession from the perspectives of two women lawyers-Molly and Khine San Myo, who is housebound because of her history and that of the country.
A Dead Body Never Lies
Words and actions can mean a thousand things in any mortality case, but only the body can provide the truth to decipher the cause of death. Dr Rohayu, a forensic pathologist, knows she has a duty to the dead and lives by the statement, ‘a dead body never lies’. She has taken the unsaid oath to be the voice of and safeguard the ones who are not able to tell their story. With Malaysia’s diverse melting pot of race, culture, and religion, Dr Rohayu has been through a plethora of extraordinary scenarios. Despite the social stigmas and taboos that come into play, Dr Rohayu is committed to seek justice and provide closure. A food enthusiast with an infectious bubbly demeanor, Dr Rohayu never fails to bring a little flare into her field of work. With the help of her co-author Fatin, they have transformed her work into a compelling piece of art for the world to see and understand.
No doubt in Dr Rohayu and Fatin’s mind, every single person deserves to be heard, the right to love, and freedom to be their true self. With a combination of science and empathy, they have created a unique piece of writing. Step into Dr Rohayu’s shoes as she brings you through these ten cases, which she believes will serve as a beacon of hope to the people who feel their voices are not worthy enough to be heard.
Accelerating Women
The greatest source of innovation in any organisation is its people, and one of the highest contributors to achieving sustained performance comes from Accelerating Women. This means leaders need to be committed to a sustained change to support, coach, mentor, listen and sponsor women every day. This is #1 issue holding organisations back from greater success in their business. Society is 50% women, yet it’s rare to find organisations with even 30% participation in management. So you’re missing 30% of the talent pool!!!
So, this book is about tools, approaches and real experiences to help you, as a manager/leader to create a workplace that Women want to join and contribute to. It will help you attract talented women and retain them, helping your team grow and innovate.
The book is split into 4 key parts:
Self – what you can personally do to support change
Leaders – what do you need to do with the leaders
Organisation – what can you do to sustain a broader change
Community – what can you do to facilitate a change in the community
This is written for business leaders with real stories that make it easy to understand what to change. The book is designed to help every manager and leader to change the way they operate, especially men in leadership roles on how to lead differently and make a real difference on gender diversity. Accelerating Women, is a journey without a finish line but is the most rewarding investment you will ever make.
Fate
Hong Kong, 1969. The Dragon Head of the Fanling Triad has died and there is a struggle to replace him among senior members of the gang. Normally, the Deputy Mountain Master is next in line, but this one is weak and ineffectual and has only survived because of the protection of the Dragon Head. Up to this point, the Fanling Triad has operated in relative isolation from neighbouring gangs, but the Dragon Head’s death has drawn attention to the area – and to its wealth. Other gangs start to make threatening moves and it’s obvious to the senior members of the Fanling Triad that they need a leader who can fend off the threats, unite the membership, and maintain their prosperity. There are several candidates. The least conspicuous is the White Paper Fan, their young administrator. His name is Chow Tung, but many of those who work with him already refer to him as “Uncle”…