20 December 2024
Expanding the Singapore Story - One Pioneer at a Time
Award-winning author Mr Peh Shing Huei (Arts & Social Sciences ’00) is on a mission to contribute to the nation’s historical record by sharing new perspectives on the lives of its most notable figures.
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Mr Peh at the launch of the Chinese edition of Strictly Business: The Kwek Leng Beng Story -《在商言商：郭令明》on 26 September 2024.
WHO HE IS: Mr Peh Shing Huei is a Singaporean author and journalist. He has penned several acclaimed works, including When the Party Ends: China's Leaps and Stumbles After the Beijing Olympics, the winner of the 2016 Singapore Literature Prize (non-fiction); and bestsellers Tall Order: The Goh Chok Tong Story, a biography of Emeritus Senior Minister Mr Goh Chok Tong (Arts '64, HonLLD '15); and Neither Civil Nor Servant: The Philip Yeo Story. He is a founding partner of content and communications agency The Nutgraf.
After his first interview with one of Singapore’s most colourful civil servants, Mr Philip Yeo (Engineering MSc ’74, HonDLitt ’11), Mr Peh Shing Huei found himself desperately searching for paracetamol tablets to cure a pounding headache. Mr Yeo — a former Permanent Secretary known for his maverick ways — had spoken so fast and jumped from topic to topic so quickly that Mr Peh was left physically and mentally drained after the encounter. “It was the most difficult interview I had ever done,” Mr Peh, 49, recalled. But it was exactly this kind of larger-than-life personality that made the former Economic Development Board and Agency for Science, Technology and Research chairman such a compelling subject for a book — and Mr Peh knew he was onto something special.
Published in 2016, Neither Civil Nor Servant kickstarted Mr Peh’s journey from journalist to one of Singapore’s most respected biographers. With a career that has seen him profile the nation’s leaders and captains of industry, Mr Peh now tells the stories that shaped Singapore.
FROM SCRIBE TO STORYTELLER
Having graduated from the National University of Singapore (NUS) in 2000, Mr Peh joined The Straits Times as a reporter. After spending 15 years in the newsroom — covering a range of beats from sports to politics — he felt it was time for a change. He still loved writing, but was ready to step out of the daily grind of the newsroom. “I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do next, but I knew I still wanted to be involved in what I was good at — interviewing and writing,” he said. As fate would have it, just as he was preparing to leave The Straits Times, his former boss asked if he would be interested in writing a book about Mr Philip Yeo. Intrigued by the project and the man, Mr Peh said “yes” almost immediately.
Mr Peh already had experience writing a full-length non-fiction book. His debut effort,
When the Party Ends: China’s Leaps and Stumbles After the Beijing Olympics, was published in 2013 and came about during his time as the China bureau chief for
The Straits Times. “It is quite common for foreign correspondents to write a book after their stint in China,” he explained. “I was inspired by that and thought it would be interesting to do something similar — and that’s how
When the Party Ends came about.” The book explored China’s evolution and the challenges it faced after the global spotlight of the Olympics faded.
A PASSION IGNITED
The jump from journalism to books felt natural for Mr Peh, especially given the depth of research, interviewing and writing skills he had honed at NUS and at The Straits Times. Majoring in political science and sociology, Mr Peh became fascinated by the world around him and the way societies function. “NUS gave me a foundation in understanding how the world works, and that curiosity led me to pursue a career in journalism,” he explained.
It was at NUS that Mr Peh first realised he had a flair for writing in English. Coming from a Mandarin-speaking family, he wasn’t particularly confident in his English skills when he started university. But over time, he developed a love for words and storytelling. “I discovered that I enjoyed writing essays and doing research,” he said. “It was a turning point for me.”
This foundation proved invaluable when Mr Peh started working on books. But writing a book proved a new kind of challenge, especially when it involved sitting down for months at a time, structuring thousands of words into a coherent, engaging story. “It’s like writing a really long news feature, but with tens of thousands of words!”
Mr Peh’s best-sellers include his first biography Neither Civil Nor Servant; Tall Order: The Goh Chok Tong Story; When The Party Ends, detailing the challenges faced by China following the 2008 Beijing Olympics; and children’s book Pineapple, Let’s Roll!
TALES OF TITANS
Since Neither Civil Nor Servant: The Philip Yeo Story, Mr Peh has written several more books, including the best-selling two-volume biography of Singapore’s second Prime Minister, Tall Order: The Goh Chok Tong Story and Standing Tall: The Goh Chok Tong Years. Each project has allowed him to dig deep into the lives of some of Singapore’s most significant figures. In their own way, Mr Peh’s books have helped to enrich the nation’s historical record by plugging gaps in the narrative. Through his research, he uncovers the personal anecdotes and behind-the-scenes moments that bring these public figures to life. “I want to tell a good story as objectively as possible,” he emphasised. “I’m not here to write about Superman, but rather a person who has had his share of failures, mistakes and inglorious moments.”
Mr Peh with Emeritus Senior Minister Goh, who is Chairman of the Governing Board of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, during a dialogue at NUS about the books Tall Order and Standing Tall.
A recent project, The Last Fools, profiles eight civil servants who worked closely with Singapore’s founding Prime Minister Mr Lee Kuan Yew (HonLLD ’13). These were the often-overlooked individuals who executed the policies that transformed the nation, from cleaning up the Singapore River to building public housing.
What keeps Mr Peh motivated is the excitement of discovering new stories to tell — but only ones that he feels deeply for. “I need to be interested in the person’s story before I agree to write about them. We are going to be spending a lot of time together, so we need to be comfortable with each other,” he said. That interest shines through in his body of work. Whether it’s navigating the complexities of Mr Goh Chok Tong’s career or the family dynamics of billionaire businessman Mr Kwek Leng Beng, his books are filled with rich, engaging stories that bring these personalities to life.
Mr Peh at The Nutgraf office, for a feature on Pineapple, Let's Roll!
SREADING THE WORD
It is not just political and business leaders that Mr Peh is interested in. His recent foray into children’s literature shows his versatility as a writer. One of his latest projects — a children’s book featuring a pineapple — was inspired by Singapore’s presidential elections, where he was a member of Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam’s campaign team. “I thought it would be a fun way to translate some of the positive messages from the election into lessons for kids,” he explained.
As a founding partner of content and communications agency The Nutgraf, Mr Peh splits his time between running the business and working on book projects. As always, he is on the lookout for new tales to tell. “There are so many stories about Singapore that haven’t been told, and I’m excited to keep finding new ways to share them,” he said. “It would be meaningful to keep contributing chapters to the Singapore Story.”
Mr Peh (right) at the launch of Strictly Business: The Kwek Leng Beng Story on 9 November 2023.
Text by Francis Kan. Photos courtesy of Peh Shing Huei.