4.4
Non-Fiction
Based on extensive interviews and archival material, The First Wave tells the story of the opposition in Singapore in its critical first thirty years in Parliament.
Democratisation has been described to occur in waves. The first wave of a democratic awakening in post-independence Singapore began with J. B. Jeyaretnam’s victory in the Anson by-election of 1981. That built up to the 1984 general election, the first of many to be called a “watershed”, in which Chiam See Tong was also elected in Potong Pasir. After their successes in 1991, the opposition began dreaming of forming the government.
But their euphoria was short-lived. Serious fault lines in the leading Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) rose to the surface almost immediately after the opposition victories of 1991, and the party was wiped out of Parliament by 1997. The opposition spent the next decade experimenting with coalition arrangements, to work their way back to victory.
© 2019 by Loke Hoe Yeong. Published in paper format in Singapore by Epigram Books, recorded by Storyside 2019.
© 2020 Storyside (Audiobook): 9789179236274
© 2019 Epigram Books (Ebook): 9789814845434
Release date
Audiobook: 18 February 2020
Ebook: 1 September 2019
4.4
Non-Fiction
Based on extensive interviews and archival material, The First Wave tells the story of the opposition in Singapore in its critical first thirty years in Parliament.
Democratisation has been described to occur in waves. The first wave of a democratic awakening in post-independence Singapore began with J. B. Jeyaretnam’s victory in the Anson by-election of 1981. That built up to the 1984 general election, the first of many to be called a “watershed”, in which Chiam See Tong was also elected in Potong Pasir. After their successes in 1991, the opposition began dreaming of forming the government.
But their euphoria was short-lived. Serious fault lines in the leading Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) rose to the surface almost immediately after the opposition victories of 1991, and the party was wiped out of Parliament by 1997. The opposition spent the next decade experimenting with coalition arrangements, to work their way back to victory.
© 2019 by Loke Hoe Yeong. Published in paper format in Singapore by Epigram Books, recorded by Storyside 2019.
© 2020 Storyside (Audiobook): 9789179236274
© 2019 Epigram Books (Ebook): 9789814845434
Release date
Audiobook: 18 February 2020
Ebook: 1 September 2019
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Overall rating based on 18 ratings
Informative
Thought-provoking
Page-turner
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Richmond
28 Feb 2021
Good overview of opposition parties: its ups, downs and tactics.Good audio.
Tommy
9 May 2020
Provides a good background of the early opposition politics in Singapore.
Kelvin
27 Sept 2020
Very entertaining. The reader is very good. Changing his tone to suit the narration.
English
Singapore