After my positive experience with Tall Order, I decided to continue reading Singaporean memoirs and autobiographies, choosing Son of Singapore as the second book I’d read. While I hadn’t heard of this autobiography before, it has excellent reviews online and more importantly, is from the voice of an ordinary Singaporean, not a politician or one of the other movers and shakers.

Son of Singapore is Kok Seng’s story from when he was a young boy (during the Japanese occupation), stopping after he gets a job as a driver to an Ang Moh (Caucasian) in Kuala Lumpur. Between these two events, Kok Seng goes to two schools and finds two different jobs as a coolie. I kept seeing the name “Cold Storage”, an established supermarket chain in Singapore, but it seems like his bosses weren’t actually running Cold Storage? I’m not sure because Kok Seng didn’t know so I don’t.

In fact, the book is illuminating for what it leaves out. While there is one section about politics and the Chief Minister of Singapore, there isn’t much about Singapore’s development as a nation. The closest we get to a rally is when Kok Seng goes to one to shout “Merdeka” and earn five dollars. It suggests that for at least one Singaporean, politics was not of great concern to them – bread and butter issues were.

Overall, I found Son of Singapore to be an enjoyable and accessible autobiography. Apparently, this was first written in Chinese and then translated to English with the help of Kok Seng’s employer. But honestly? The language felt natural – if I didn’t know that the book was translated, I never would have guessed.

If you’re interested in learning more about the first generation of Singaporeans and what their lives were like, then you have to read Son of Singapore. I heard that there are two more books, and I’m definitely going to read them so that I can finish reading his autobiography.