My Nantah Story: The Rise and Demise of the People’s University
Read the foreword and Tan Kok Chiang's introduction here.
In 1958, more than a hundred thousand people attended the inauguration ceremony of Nanyang University (Nantah), a true “people’s university” that was founded with the support of all strata of society, from tycoons to trishaw-men. After producing 12,000 graduates and winning global recognition, the institution, the first Chinese-medium university outside China, held her final convocation in 1980. Drawing from the author’s own research and diverse sources that have never before been available in English, this book tells the fascinating story of Nantah’s short and eventful life and deconstructs the many myths and misconceptions that continue to surround her.
*Errata — Mr Lee Hsien Loong's quote on page 23 was taken from NUSS' 60th anniversary lecture, and not the 16th anniversary lecture as printed.
My Nantah Story: The Rise and Demise of the People’s University
Slide to see
Paperback
$30.00 SGD
E-book
$30.00 SGD
Reviews
“This book is important reading for all Malayans. It captures a brief moment in our history when a group of oppressed people rose up, set aside differences, and joined hands, in the face of great challenges and severe resistance, to build an edifice that aspired to a greater vision for mankind. Nanyang University is gone, but the Nantah spirit lives on. May we one day reclaim it for Malaya.” —Thum Ping Tjin (Historian, Director of Project Southeast Asia, Oxford University)
“Tan Kok Chiang has succeeded in writing a remarkable book which can certainly be regarded as a comprehensive history of the old Nanyang University. More than this, his monumental work can also be upheld as a significant addition to the growing corpus of books considered to be alternative (or people’s) history, different from and breaking the monopoly of such official elite versions of history as exemplified by Lee Kuan Yew’s The Singapore Story.” —Syed Husin Ali (Member, Malaysian Senate, and President, People’s History Centre)
Non-Fiction
paperback
$27.00 SGD
e-book
$27.00 SGD
(Preorder) Not Without Us: Perspectives on Disability and Inclusion in Singapore
Paperback
$25.00 SGD
E-book
$25.00 SGD
Brown is Redacted: Reflecting on Race in Singapore
paperback
$20.00 SGD
E-book
$20.00 SGD
Khairat Kita: A History of Malay/Muslim Mutual Aid in Singapore
Paperback
$14.02 SGD
E-book
$14.02 SGD
What We Inherit: Growing Up Indian
Paperback
$25.00 SGD
E-book
$25.00 SGD
Making Kin: Ecofeminist Essays from Singapore
Paperback
$30.00 SGD
E-book
$30.00 SGD
Theatres of Memory
Paperback
$30.00 SGD
E-Book
$30.00 SGD
Voting in a Time of Change: Singapore’s 2020 General Election
Paperback
$25.00 SGD
E-book
$25.00 SGD
Raffles Renounced: Towards a Merdeka History
Paperback
$23.36 SGD
E-book
$23.36 SGD
Eating Chilli Crab in the Anthropocene
Paperback
$25.00 SGD
E-book
$25.00 SGD
Air-Conditioned Nation Revisited
Paperback
$28.04 SGD
A Guide to the Employment Act and Its Related Legislations (2nd Edition)
Paperback
$23.36 SGD
They Told Us To Move: Dakota—Cassia
Paperback
$18.69 SGD
Siglap at the Crossroads: Memories of Its Only HDB Estate
Paperback
$30.00 SGD
A Quest for Freedom
Paperback
$14.95 SGD
I am not a label, I am Gary
Paperback
$26.00 SGD
E-book
$26.00 SGD
This Is What Inequality Looks Like
Paperback
$11.21 SGD
Lancing Girls of a Happy World
Paperback
$30.00 SGD
E-book
$30.00 SGD
The Art of Advocacy In Singapore
Paperback
$23.36 SGD
Singapore, Incomplete: Reflections on a First World nation’s arrested political development
Paperback
$30.00 SGD
E-book
$30.00 SGD
My Nantah Story: The Rise and Demise of the People’s University
Paperback
$11.21 SGD
A Penniless Boy, Chew Joo Chiat
Paperback
$30.00 SGD
Living with Myths in Singapore
Paperback
$13.00 SGD
A Watershed Election (新加坡政治的分水岭: 林宝音政论文选)
Paperback
$35.00 SGD
Godsmacked
Paperback
$25.00 SGD
Singapore: A Portrait In Diversity
Paperback
$16.56 SGD $18.00 SGD
Remains: A Singapore Journey
Paperback
$14.02 SGD
Under A Shadow
Paperback
$23.36 SGD
Faith In Architecture
English
$20.00 SGD
Chinese
$20.00 SGD
Teacher Thinker Rebel Why: Portraits of Chee Soon Juan
Paperback
$23.36 SGD
A Guide to the Employment Act and Its Practical Applications
Out of print
Paperback
$26.17 SGD
LGOU: Let God Owe You
Out of stock
Paperback
$14.02 SGD
Growing Up Perempuan
Out of stock
Paperback
$22.00 SGD
Budi Kritik
Out of stock
Paperback
$28.04 SGD
Walking With Singapore: The Workers' Party 60th Anniversary
Out of stock
Paperback
$20.00 SGD
Local Encounters in a Global City. Singapore Stories.
Out of stock
Normal
$23.36 SGD
Pay It Forward
$23.36 SGD
The Birthday Book 2017: What should we never forget?
Out of stock
Paperback
$30.00 SGD
1987: Singapore’s Marxist Conspiracy 30 Years On
Out of stock
Out of print
Paperback
$23.00 SGD
Making Sense of Life @ / & SMU: A Partial Guide for the Clueless
Out of stock
Paperback
$18.00 SGD
Speaking Out & Speaking Up: Xinjiao Perspectives
Out of stock
Paperback
$23.36 SGD
The Birthday Book 2016: What is Singapore’s Next Big Thing?
Out of stock
Paperback
$25.00 SGD
World War II @ Bukit Brown
Out of stock
Default Title
$10.00 SGD
Human Resource Case Studies
Out of stock
Paperback
$25.00 SGD
Change in Voting: Singapore's 2015 General Election
Out of stock
Paperback
$20.00 SGD
In Pursuit of NEW LIFE
Out of stock
Paperback
$20.00 SGD
WITHIN & WITHOUT Singapore in the World; the World in Singapore
Out of stock
Paperback
$15.00 SGD
Happy Long Life to You
Out of stock
Out of print
Paperback
$15.00 SGD
The Politics of Defeat
Out of stock
Paperback
$25.00 SGD
25 Years of The Substation: Reflections on Singapore's First Independent Art Centre
Out of stock
Out of print
Paperback
$20.00 SGD
Multiculturalism through the Lens: A Guide to Ethnic and Migrant Anxieties in Singapore
Out of stock
Paperback
$32.71 SGD
Democratically Speaking
Out of stock
Attunement
Is life hustling you out of tune? As the week roars by, we invite you to a slice of attunement penned lovingly by our authors, friends, and yours truly. Freshly delivered weekly with care. Intimacy guaranteed. Read selected letters below.
Magical, luminous things
Feb 19, 2022
I have flown across an ocean this week. This still sounds surreal to say.
Read more
No negotiation for blood debt
Feb 14, 2022
The Burmese language resistance poetry is deeply embedded in the country’s colonial past. When mo...
Read more
Burning holes in the darkness
Feb 7, 2022
Poets killed in broad daylight, writers tortured and maimed. I wonder if their ghosts watch on fr...
Read more
