Living in a Time of Deception

Poh Soo Kai

Function 8 Ltd & Pusat Sejarah Rakyat

About this ebook

This is the historical memoir of Dr Poh Soo Kai, a medical doctor and a founder member of the People's Action Party. Here he tells the story of his incarceration as a political prisoner under Singapore's notorious Internal Security Act, and the anti-colonial struggle which defined the years after the Second World War.

Poh was born in Singapore in 1930. He is the maternal grandson of prominent businessman Tan Kah Kee. After the Japanese surrender in 1945, he continued his studies at Raffles Institution and entered the University of Malaya in 1950. He was a founding member of the Socialist Club in 1953 and became its second President from August that year till the following year. Poh was one of the eight members of the Fajar editorial board charged with sedition in 1954. He graduated three years later with a degree in Medicine. Poh became acquainted with Lee Kuan Yew, who was the legal advisor for the students during the Fajar Trials, during his time in university. He subsequently became a founding member of the PAP in 1954. When the party split in 1961, he left to join the Barisan Sosialis as its Assistant Secretary-General. He was arrested and detained without trial under the Preservation of Public Security Ordinance during Operation Coldstore in 1963. He was arrested again without trial under the Internal Security Act in 1976 and 1982.

About the author

Hong Lysa formerly with the History Department, National University of Singapore, continues with her research interests independently. She is co-author of The Scripting of National History: Singapore and its Pasts (2008). She is a founding member of the e-journal s/pores: new directions in Singapore studies (www.spores.com), now into its eighth year, and comments on minimyna.wordpress.com when matters relating to history are raised in the Singapore press. She co-edited The May 13 Generation: The Chinese Middle Schools Student Movement and Singapore Politics in the 1950s (2011), and The 1963 Operation Coldstore in Singapore: Commemorating 50 Years (2013).

Wong Souk Yee holds a PhD in literature and creative writing from the University of New South Wales in Sydney. She taught at the Hong Kong Baptist University from 2005 to 2008. Since 2009, she has been a part-time lecturer at the National University of Singapore. Choosing to hold a part-time day job in order to participate more actively in civil society, she strives to be a productive member of the social enterprise, Function 8. She is the author of Death of a Perm Sec, which was Shortlisted for Singapore Literature Prize 2018.