Catalogue 2012 - GB Gerakbudaya

6
SIRD / Gerakbudaya
New
Once a Jolly Hangman
Singapore Justice in the Dock (2nd Edition)
Alan Shadrake
Over the past few decades,
investigative journalism has come to
mean the kind of brave reporting that
exposes injustice, wrongdoing and,
above all, the abuse of power. Alan
Shadrake’s hard-hitting book cuts
through the official silence to reveal
disturbing truths about Singapore’s
use of the death penalty. From in-depth
interviews with Darshan Singh,
Singapore’s chief executioner for nearly
fifty years, to meticulously researched accounts of numerous
high profile cases, Once a Jolly Hangman is an exposé of
gross abuses of fundamental human rights. This completely
revised and updated edition also offers a compelling
account of the author’s arrest and trial for contempt of
court for daring to put the Singapore justice system in
the dock.
Publisher: SIRD
2011: 260 pp
ISBN: 9789675832215: RM45.00 / S$29.50
New
The Mighty Wave
He Jin
A major novel about the anti-colonial
mass movement in Singapore in the
1950s which started with the Chinese
middle school students assembling on 13
May 1954 at the pavements of Penang
Road to petition the Governor for their
exemption from national service. This
mass gathering was forcibly broken up by
the riot police. It ends with the 1959
general election, in which the political
party they supported triumphed. The protagonists of the
novel look forward to contributing to the new phase in
Singapore’s political development. That was not to be.
Set in the more rustic Singapore in the 1950s some of the
scenes depicted are recognizable by the older generation,
but have disappeared from the modern landscape. They
cover locations like Tiong Bahru, Pasir Panjang, Siglap, and
the Beach Road vicinity. The Mighty Wave is a Singaporean
novel which deserves a place in the country's literary
history.
Publisher: SIRD
2011: 386 pp
ISBN: 9789675832178: RM38.00 / S$24.70
New
Singapore Sucks!
Singa Crew
Tel: +603 - 7957 8342/8343 Fax: +603 - 7954 9202 E-mail: sird@streamyx.com
Website: www.gerakbudaya.com & bookshop.gbgerakbudaya.com
Catalogue 2012
If there ever is a book that the Singapore
Tourism Board does not want published,
Singapore Sucks! is it. Tourists looking
for the same old tired propaganda about a
sterilised shopping paradise should go waste
their money on government-owned dailies.
Singapore Sucks! Is a bouquet of sarcasm, is
humour, insolent honesty and the discerning
reader may even recognise a hint of patriotic
fervour. Through an eclectic collection of short stories,
essays and poems, our panel of largely Singaporean writers
have captured and managed to convey the peculiar brand of
insanity that can only be described as Uniquely Singapore.
If you have ever wondered about Singaporeans' fascination
with white culture, the Singlish vs. English divide or those
elusive "Asian values" our politicians keep trying to shove
down our docile minds, then this book is a must-read for you.
Publisher: Gerakbudaya Enterprise
2011: 134 pp
ISBN: 9789834479398: RM20.00 / S$13.00
New
The May 13 Generation
The Chinese Middle Schools Student
Movement and Singapore Politics in the
1950s
Edited by Tan Jing Quee, Tan Kok Chiang and Hong Lysa
The May 13 Generation was the first
belonging to the immigrant communities from
China to grapple with the issues of being
Malayan/Singaporean, breaking irrevocably
with the received wisdoms of their elders, and
in a political climate where their explorations
were deemed to be subversive.
This book comprises the recollections penned by the
participants of the era of the 1950s, where their generation
was in the forefront of the anti-colonial movement, and
the work of academic researchers who have examined the
historical framework and context of the period, as well as
how it has been made to fit into the country’s mainstream
history. The researchers have also examined the students’
cultural expressions, whether it is in art, drama, dance
or literature and found them to be socially engaged, and
grappling with the question of who they were as a people.
The cultural explorations of that period have been forgotten
or repudiated. It is revealing just how this amnesia and
silence has become so set.
Publisher: SIRD
2011: 372 pp
ISBN: 9789675832161: RM50.00 / S$32.50