ENIGMAS: Tay Seow Huah, My Father, Singaporeās Pioneer Spy Chief
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- About the Author
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āUnfortunately, some important people... such as Tay Seow Huah, had died before interviewers could get to them.ā
Lee Kuan Yew on the need to record oral history from key figures in Singapore
1965. Singapore is newly independent. Tay Seow Huah is appointed Director of the secretive Special Branch. Over the tumultuous first decade, he is key in ensuring the countryās stability, shaping strategies and initiating new institutions for intelligence and security. He reports directly to PM Lee. In 1974, when Singapore is attacked in the Laju Incident ā the oil refinery on Pulau Bukom is bombed and civilians held hostage at gun point ā and Tay is tasked to coordinate all responses, negotiate with the attackers and foreign governments.
Beyond the headlines, this memoir, written by his son, reveals the personal roots of Singaporeās pioneer spy chief set in the traumas of WWII, the Emergency in Malaya, and Singaporeās pre-independence political tumult.
Encounters with the Israelis (codenamed āMexicansā) who assisted in Singaporeās military build up are revealed, as are flash points across the region, when the Republicās fledgling intelligence agency must rapidly respond to the Vietnam War and tensions with neighbours and develop its place in the world.
This book also tracks Tayās own challenges: early retirement and his sudden death at 47. It then offers a daring, speculative and emotional conversation that juxtaposes those early years of Singapore with so much that has happened since.
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Simon Tay is an award-winning writer, with works of fiction as well as about politics and international issues. His awards for fiction and poetry include the Singapore Literature Prize and the 2019 Southeast Asia Write Award.
He is a former Nominated Member of Parliament, chair of a major statutory board, and continues to serve as an ambassador for Singapore.
He is concurrently chairman of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs, associate professor at the National University of Singaporeās Faculty of Law and senior consultant with a major Singaporean law firm.
He is the only son of Tay Seow Huah and the late Madam Cheong Keong Hin.
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Description
- Description
- About the Author
-
āUnfortunately, some important people... such as Tay Seow Huah, had died before interviewers could get to them.ā
Lee Kuan Yew on the need to record oral history from key figures in Singapore
1965. Singapore is newly independent. Tay Seow Huah is appointed Director of the secretive Special Branch. Over the tumultuous first decade, he is key in ensuring the countryās stability, shaping strategies and initiating new institutions for intelligence and security. He reports directly to PM Lee. In 1974, when Singapore is attacked in the Laju Incident ā the oil refinery on Pulau Bukom is bombed and civilians held hostage at gun point ā and Tay is tasked to coordinate all responses, negotiate with the attackers and foreign governments.
Beyond the headlines, this memoir, written by his son, reveals the personal roots of Singaporeās pioneer spy chief set in the traumas of WWII, the Emergency in Malaya, and Singaporeās pre-independence political tumult.
Encounters with the Israelis (codenamed āMexicansā) who assisted in Singaporeās military build up are revealed, as are flash points across the region, when the Republicās fledgling intelligence agency must rapidly respond to the Vietnam War and tensions with neighbours and develop its place in the world.
This book also tracks Tayās own challenges: early retirement and his sudden death at 47. It then offers a daring, speculative and emotional conversation that juxtaposes those early years of Singapore with so much that has happened since.
-
Simon Tay is an award-winning writer, with works of fiction as well as about politics and international issues. His awards for fiction and poetry include the Singapore Literature Prize and the 2019 Southeast Asia Write Award.
He is a former Nominated Member of Parliament, chair of a major statutory board, and continues to serve as an ambassador for Singapore.
He is concurrently chairman of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs, associate professor at the National University of Singaporeās Faculty of Law and senior consultant with a major Singaporean law firm.
He is the only son of Tay Seow Huah and the late Madam Cheong Keong Hin.
