The IRAS Story◎Ng Keat Seng, Lee Su Shyan
Regular price $44.00The IRAS Story chronicles how Singapore's tax authority evolved from the Singapore Income Tax Department set up in 1948 to administer income tax only, to the Inland Revenue Department that took charge of several taxes from 1960, and finally to the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore in 1992, a key national institution that the World Bank has cited as a model for tax administrations.
IRAS' people tell us their story. And it is a fascinating one, of coping with documents galore, irate taxpayers, fraud and tax evasion. But then, like a symphony that soars above the cacophony, the IRAS players put up a class act. It began using technology creatively to achieve one of the lowest costs of tax collection and highest rates of voluntary compliance in the world, and kept up the tempo by responding robustly to a global environment that is becoming more complex and less predictable.
Vintage Singapore - 1950s (Postcard Book)◎Singapore Post
Regular price $25.00Majulah Moments (Postcard Book)◎Singpost
Regular price $25.00Thinking Allowed?◎Warren Fernandez
Regular price $25.00Small States In A Big World : Size Is Not Destiny◎Tommy Koh (Editor)
Regular price $33.00Singapore Is Not An Island◎Bilahari Kausikan
Regular price $28.00As a small country in Southeast Asia seeking to survive and prosper, Singapore cannot be ordinary. It must be extraordinary. Herein lies the central challenge for Singapore in every area, including foreign policy. This book is a compilation of essays and public speeches by Bilahari Kausikan over the last 25 years. A frank and passionate assessment of the geopolitical realities to date, and the uncertainties that have emerged. It is for anyone interested to know about protecting Singapore’s interests, nicely or otherwise, in a rapidly changing and complex world.
About the Author
Bilahari P S Kausikan is a veteran Singapore diplomat who retired in 2013, after serving in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) for 32 years. He was Second Permanent Secretary and subsequently Permanent Secretary of MFA from 2001 to 2013. He is now Ambassador-at-Large. Bilahari is known nationally and internationally for his strategic analyses, and has a following in international foreign policy circles. He has also established a reputation in social media circles, especially among young Singaporeans.
Government in Business - Friend Or Foe? Finding Entry & Exit Points◎Lim Hwee Hua
Regular price $36.00Former Member of Singapore’s Parliament and top civil servant Lim Hwee Hua has used her active role in this perennial issue to show just how complex the arguments can be.
She answers a list of recurring questions, dealing with the why, when, what and wherefore which public officials, managers of state-owned enterprises and businessmen will find useful when formulating policies, or in their dealings with one another.
The numerous examples she cites from all over the world, of governments’ dreams and nightmares, illustrate factors peculiar to particular situations, but all raise degees of risk best resolved with honesty, particularly with regard to who benefits the most from a decision to get in or out. As Lim explains, the answer can sometimes come as a shock.
Malaysia & Singapore: The Land Reclamation Case◎Cheong Koon Hean, Tommy Koh, Lionel Yee
Regular price $28.00This book tells the story of Singapore’s first experience of defending its legal rights
before an international tribunal, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea
(ITLOS).
The authors, who were part of the multidisciplinary and multi-agency team tasked
with presenting Singapore’s case at ITLOS, recount the facts of the reclamation
dispute and the ITLOS proceedings culminating in a pragmatic outcome, one that
paves the way for future cases of this nature to be resolved in a similar way. This
book would be of interest to students and readers of international relations,
international law and the peaceful settlement of disputes.
Close Watch : A Nation's Resolve To Secure Singapore◎Ben Nadarajan
Regular price $18.00Can Singapore Survive? (New Updated Version)◎Kishore Mahbubani
Regular price $39.00
However, the biggest danger Singapore faces is complacency. One key goal of this book is to encourage the development of such a culture of constant reflection and self-examination.
For young Singaporeans who never experienced third-world Singapore or direct contact with the great founding fathers of Singapore, these essays may provide a glimpse of the hard-headed thinking that also explains Singapore’s exceptional success over the years.
About the Author
Kishore Mahbubani has been the dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore since August 2004. Before that, in his distinguished 33-year career as a diplomat, he served twice as ambassador to the UN. He has published a vast array of articles in leading global journals and newspapers, such as Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, and the Financial Times, as well as four books: Can Asians Think, Beyond the Age of Innocence, The New Asian Hemisphere and The Great Convergence. He was listed by Foreign Policy as one of the top 100 global thinkers in 2010 and 2011; and by Prospect magazine as one of the top 50 global thinkers for 2014.
America: A Singapore Perspective◎Tommy Koh, Saljit Singh (Editors)
Regular price $33.00Men in White◎Sonny Yap, Leong Weng Kam, Richard Lim (English)
Regular price $45.00Men In White is the inside story of one of the world’s most successful political parties. Narrated in three parts, it is oral history spun in a journalistic mode and spiced unapologetically with anecdotes, quotes and human interest to breathe life into past events.
Three writers from The Straits Times backed by four researchers conducted some 300 interviews in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong and China. The result is a dramatic account of the PAP – warts, blemishes and all – and of the pivotal moments in its history which changed the course of Singapore forever.
PART ONE tells how a Cambridge-educated lawyer and his anglicised associates collaborated with radical Chinese-speaking trade unionists to drive out the British colonialists and how they fought each other to the bitter end.
PART TWO captures the agonies of leadership renewal and charts the ascent of Goh Chok Tong who succeeded Lee as the second prime minister. It ends with Lee Hsien Loong taking over from Goh in 2004 and leading the party to victory in the 2006 polls.
PART THREE wraps up the PAP story by delving into the key principles that characterise Singapore governance and concludes with the intriguing poser: Will PAP outlive LKY?
Lee Kuan Yew: A Life In Pictures◎The Straits Times Team (Editors)
Regular price $72.00This book tells the story of the man who transformed an improbable country into the thriving metropolis it is now. Selected from over 35,000 photographs from a wide range of sources, including Lee’s personal albums, it also captures private and loving moments between Lee and his wife and life-long partner Kwa Geok Choo, and the family they raised together. This pictorial is both a visual record and a celebration of his remarkable story.
Proudly Singaporean◎Alain Vandenborre
Regular price $28.00Proudly Singaporean is Alain Vandenborre's powerful and thought-provoking review of the many challenges facing Singapore today, and a moving account of why he chose to become a Singapore citizen. An entrepreneur and the Executive Director and Vice-Chairman of the Singapore Venture Capital and Private Equity Association, Vandenborre has over 20 years of business and senior management experience, and he brings insight, hope and warmth to his stirring vision for the country.
雅意:新加坡華文報藏書畫擷珍 (From Gifts to Treasures: The Chinese Media Group Art Collection)◎黃向京(簡體)
Regular price $85.00新報業媒體華文媒體集團首次將多年來所得的書畫藏作加以梳理、評析,出版成書。無論贈者之情,還是報社收藏之意,皆涵雅意,加之書中採擷乃收藏的精華,因此書名為《雅意:新加坡華文報藏書畫擷珍》。
《雅意》從華文報收藏中精選出60幾位藝術家的近90件作品,新加坡及海外約占一半,以水墨畫居多,其他包括書法、水彩畫、油畫和陶塑。
世事任君談——報人生涯一得之愚(Media, Culture and Current Affairs - From An Editor’s Desk)◎林任君(簡體)
Regular price $33.00《世事任君談——報人生涯一得之愚》不單是一位資深報人的評論總集,更折射了《聯合早報》以至新加坡媒體的發展軌跡。本書分三輯:媒體、文化、時事。「媒體輯」梳理了他在早報各個報慶的回顧與前瞻,以及在國內外多個論壇上發表演講、接受媒體專訪時,對國內外媒體的現況與發展趨勢的觀察。「文化輯」 突出了華文報與華社的共生關係,以及他對本地華文生態的關注。「時事輯」題材廣泛,內容深刻,也是他近40年新聞事業的縮影——釐清事實,打假較真,維護國家利益。
Big Hearts, Big Dreams◎Wong Kim Hoh
Regular price $27.00Big Hearts, Big Dreams gathers the stories of the 21 winners and nominees from the first two years of the Singapore of the Year award. Each profile captures the determination and drive of those who have made an impact on the community.
Since 2015, The Straits Times has recognised unsung heroes and inspiring dreamers with the Singaporean of the Year award. Supported by UBS Singapore, the annual award celebrates individuals who made headlines not because of their status or fame, but for their selfless acts of goodwill. It recognises the triumph of the human spirit, and the myriad ways in which common men and women can shape the lives of those around them for the better.
50+ Things to Love About Singapore (paperback) ◎Edited by Susan Long
Regular price $23.00This intimate study of the things we know and love about Singapore delves into the ironies of nanny state policies and political instincts that die-hard among rulers and ruled alike, pricey cars and real estate, a land-scarce city which prizes greenery to the point of fashioning vertical gardens.
Tony Tan Keng Yam: My Political Journey (Paperback)◎Leslie Koh
Regular price $41.00A lecturer turned banker, Dr Tony Tan Keng Yam never expected to become a politician, much less a president. Challenged to join Singapore’s nation building efforts in 1979, he set aside personal ambitions for a quiet life to serve the nation, beginning a political career that would eventually span nearly four decades and take him to the nation’s highest post at the Istana.
Written from Dr Tan’s point of view, this book offers a personal perspective of policy- and decision-making on a national level, giving a behind-the-scenes look at key decisions and policy changes in the fields of education, finance, security and defence through his years in government and public service.
Among other things, he reveals the deliberations behind the 1979 overhaul of the education system, the scrapping of the graduate mothers’ priority scheme, the 1986 Central Provident Fund rate cut, the management of investment losses at GIC, and his entry into the 2011 presidential race, while sharing his personal insights on the lessons learnt in the journey of building and growing a nation.
Unquiet Kingdom - Thailand in Transition◎Nirmal Ghosh
Regular price $33.00From exuberant rallies on Bangkok’s shopping streets to tear-gasfilled alleyways echoing with gunshots, from democracy-debating farmers to kitten-fostering Buddhist nuns, Unquiet Kingdom is a gripping portrait of Thailand’s many faces, revealing the complexities of a country that is far more than its tranquil tourist-brochure stereotype.Veteran journalist Nirmal Ghosh takes readers past the serene facade of Thailand’s steadily-cruising economy and undaunted tourism industry. He exposes the uncertainty of a country in the throes of transition, a deeply-divided land that has just lost a father. ‘Unquiet Kingdom’ gives you an engaging account of what he experienced from that ringside seat.
About the Author
Nirmal Ghosh, a Foreign Correspondent for The Straits Times since 1994, has lived in Singapore, Manila, New Delhi, and Bangkok where he spent 13 years, first as Thailand Correspondent and then as Indochina Bureau Chief covering the region. He is currently United States Bureau Chief, based in Washington, DC. This is his fourth book.
The Malaysia That Could Be◎Kalimullah Hassan
Regular price $39.00The Malaysia That Could Be tells of one man’s belief in his country – and how it can be so much more than what it is today. In this compilation of columns from the New Sunday Times in Malaysia, Dato’ Seri Kalimullah reminisces the Malaysia of yesteryear when ordinary Malaysians lived modestly and harmoniously together. He bemoans the decline in ethnic and religious tolerance in recent times, amidst a rise of rhetoric of racism and bigotry.
Having been friends with former Malaysian Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi since 1980, and part of the team who helped with Abdullah’s speeches at the annual Umno General Assembly, Kalimullah also gives an insider’s view of Abdullah’s years in power and the events which led to his resignation.
Resurgent Indonesia From Crisis to Confidence◎Vasuki Shastry
Regular price $39.00In 1998, wracked by financial turmoil and political upheaval, Indonesia seemed like a country on the brink of collapse. Yet it has more than turned its fortunes around.
"Resurgent Indonesia From Crisis to Confidence" is the gripping inside account of Indonesia’s steep decline after the Asian financial crisis and its improbable recovery and rise in the ensuing two decades.
It charts the country’s difficult journey from a failing state to a confident young democracy and a fast-growing economy. Today, Indonesia is a powerful global symbol of how globalisation and democracy are perfectly compatible in the world’s largest Muslim nation. Indonesia’s post-1998 leadership and the country’s 260 million people have figured out the “secret sauce” of blending democracy, stability, globalisation, and modernity -- providing powerful lessons for the world that the book describes as ‘Indonesia Rules’.
About the Author
Vasuki Shastry was a well-known business and economics journalist in India, Singapore, and Indonesia before joining the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 1998.
His last assignment as a journalist was in Jakarta, where he was bureau chief of The Business Times between 1996 and 1998, covering the Asian financial crisis and the fall of President Suharto. He worked extensively on Indonesia during his stint at the IMF, starting as Asia Pacific spokesperson and in other roles.