The Mighty Wave
He Jin; Tan Jing Quee, Loh Miaw Gong, & Hong Lysa (trans.)
Petaling Jaya: Strategic Information and Research Development Centre, 2011
ISBN: 9789675832178

A major novel about the anti-colonial mass movement in Singapore in the 1950s which started with the Chinese middle school students assembling on 13 May 1954 at the pavements of Penang Road to petition the Governor for their exemption from national service. This mass gathering was forcibly broken up by the riot police. It ends with the 1959 general election, in which the political party they supported triumphed. The protagonists of the novel look forward to contributing to the new phase in Singapore's political development.

That was not to be.

Set in the more rustic Singapore in the 1950s some of the scenes depicted are recognizable by the older generation, but have disappeared from the modern landscape. They cover locations like Tiong Bahru, Pasir Panjang, Siglap, and the Beach Road vicinity.

The Mighty Wave is a Singapore novel which deserves a place in the country's literary history.