Singapore's 10 'founding fathers' turned into flesh and blood again

This book about the 10 political leaders who signed the separation agreement from Malaysia in 1965 shows up their colourful human side

- Clement Yong

THE FIRST FOOLS: B-SIDES OF LEE KUAN YEW'S A-TEAM Edited by Peh Shing Huei Non-fiction/The Nutgraf Books/ Paperback/237 pages/$32.11

In primary school, this reviewer came into possession of a yellowed sheet of laminated paper, on which the headshots of Singapore's 10 "founding fathers" were arranged haphazardly.

They stared, their expression somewhere between stoic and emotionless; meeting their eyes, one was wont to feel nothing too.

This, one imagines, is the natural reaction of those born after the tumult of independence and early nation-building. The legacy of first Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew of course still looms large, and there has been more recent attention paid to the foundational role of first Finance Minister Goh Keng Swee.

But who were the rest of this assembly of mostly Chinese men, alongside them a Malay, Indian and Eurasian to complete the quartet of CMIO (Chinese, Malay, Indian, Others)? The appeal of the Great Man theory of history has always been that it is easier to know one man than his entire team.

Now Nutgraf Books' anthology, The First Fools: B-Sides Of Lee Kuan Yew's A-Team, has created an inroad to distinguishing the 10 men who signed the separation agreement from Malaysia in 1965 and taken a stab at their colourful personalities to make them worth knowing.

It is important for broadening Singapore's birth narrative beyond Mr Lee, but more so for the thoroughly entertaining way it sets about doing this.

The titular B-side refers to the less important side of the vinyl record, in this case, a retro, catch-all term for the 10 men's hidden passions, second careers and, in Mr Lee's case, his touching and devoted life-long tendresse for wife Kwa Geok Choo.