Last Train From Tanjong Pagar
Koh Hong Teng
Singapore: Epigram Books, 2014
ISBN: 9789810769192

The Keretapi Tanah Melayu (KTM) train that ran between Singapore and Malaysia for almost 80 years was rerouted to Woodlands Train Checkpoint following the closure of Tanjong Pagar Railway Station -- now a gazetted national monument -- in June 2011.

Based on real tours led by architecture historian Lai Chee Kien, Last Train from Tanjong Pagar follows a group of heritage enthusiasts as they discover Singapore’s railway heritage, and gather with passengers from all walks of life for one final ride out of Tanjong Pagar station.

Seamlessly blending fact and fiction, Koh Hong Teng has produced a timely and thought-provoking graphic homage to our trains and not only the physical journeys but also the human connections they have made possible.

Growing Up in British Malaya and Singapore: A Time of Fireflies and Wild Guavas
Maurice Baker
Singapore: World Scientific, 2014
ISBN: 9789814623780

Growing Up in British Malaya and Singapore: A Time of Fireflies and Wild Guavas is an autobiography of Maurice Baker's life in Malaya and Singapore from the 1920s to the 1940s. His memoir extends from the earliest of childhood memories with his family and friends up to the defeat of the British during the Japanese Occupation of Singapore.

Baker's recounts are often humorous and detailed with the help of rare photographs preserved since his childhood. His love for poetry also seeps through the lines of vivid prose, sending the reader back to a simpler time where tigers still used to roam the jungles of Malaya and Singapore; where fireflies were as abundant as starlight, and wild guava trees stood tall.

We Also Served: Reflections of Singapore's Former PAP MPs
Chiang Hai Ding & Rohan Kamis (eds.)
Singapore: Straits Times Press, 2014
ISBN: 9789814342650

For the first time, 25 People’s Action Party former MPs tell how they became involved in politics, what they did as politicians, what they felt and wished for Singapore. They are former ministers and other office holders to backbenchers. Some served five terms, totalling over two decades, and some one term of four or five years.

These are stories of ordinary people who served in unusual times and achieved extraordinary results for Singapore. Some are of very humble origin or have little formal education. Some served in the crucial decade, 1955 to 1965, during the birthing of the new nation, when the political outcome of their struggle could have gone against them, and they would have paid a heavy price for their convictions. Most served when that new nation started out on the long road to nation-building, during the decades of rapid social and economic change, when they had to convince their fellow citizens to make the necessary changes for independent Singapore to survive and progress. Most were not prepared for the tasks they had to undertake.

Singapore On the Couch: Interviews With Astonishing Individuals
Ong Yong Lock
Singapore: Monsoon Books, 2014
ISBN: 9789814423779

Singapore on the Couch offers a unique insight into the Singapore psyche through a collection of interviews with 12 astonishing individuals, all of whom have achieved prominence in their specialty fields. Representing brawn are Ray and Roy Yeo, competitive bodybuilders and twins; displaying Singapore's celebrated business acumen are Richard Eu of Eu Yan Sang and global entrepreneur Vikram Chand; championing the Singapore arts scene are theatre and film producer W!ld Rice's Glen Goei, and music director of the Singapore National Youth Orchestra, Darrell Ang; discussing faith and its place in multi-ethnic Singapore are GP-turned-pastor and founder of Goducate Dr Paul Choo and the CEO and medical director of HCA Hospice Care Dr Akhilesh; dispelling the myth of the humourless Singaporean are quipsters Toh Paik Choo, Dream Academy's Selena Tan and Mr Brown; and representing A Truly Astonighing Singaporean - 'ATAS' for short - is Professor Tommy Koh, one of Singapore's Ambassadors-At-Large and role model for a nation.

The author and interviewer is a retired Singaporean psychiatrist who for many years practised overseas and is therefore able to offer a fresh perspective on his fellow countrymen with fewer preconceived notions of what, if anything, is normal in this little red dot. In his own quirky and idiosyncratic psychological approach, he boldly sets out to define themes which he feels are core, well-recognised themes in Singapore, to highlight the style, thinking and working of these successful individuals and, ultimately, to capture the Singapore psyche, if only in a snapshot, on the country's Golden Jubilee.

The Accidental Diplomat: The Autobiography of Maurice Baker
Maurice Baker
Singapore: World Scientific, 2014
ISBN: 9789814618311

Maurice Baker is an academic and one of Singapore's pioneer diplomats. After graduating with honors in English from King's College, London in 1948, he returned to Singapore and taught at two secondary schools before becoming a university lecturer and head of the Department of Extra-mural Studies in the University of Singapore.

In 1967, Baker was invited to be Singapore's first high commissioner to India. That invitation marked his venture into the world of diplomacy. Following the May 13 1969 racial riots in Malaysia, Baker was asked by then Singapore's Foreign Minister, S. Rajaratnam to be the ambassador to Malaysia because Tun Abdul Razak, then Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, was a good friend of Baker's both at Raffles College and in England when they were students. Two years later, he returned to Singapore to head the Department of English in the University of Singapore before being recalled by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1977 to be an ambassador to the Republic of the Philippines. Baker returned to Malaysia as high commissioner in 1980 and he held that position for more than seven years. In 1989, he was appointed as Pro-Chancellor of the National University of Singapore and he remained in this position until his retirement in 2002.

This book tells the story of Baker's experience as an accidental diplomat, his encounters with eminent individuals in the countries in which he served, his recollections of their conversations with him and, most importantly, how he successfully became a diplomat