Enigmas: Tay Seow Huah, My Father: Singapore's Pioneer Spy Chief

Enigmas is a memoir of Tay Seow Huah, written by his son, revealing the personal roots of Singapore's pioneer spy chief set in the traumas of WWII, the Emergency in Malaya, and Singapore's pre-independence political tumult.

1965. Singapore is newly independent. Tay Seow Huah is

appointed Director of the secretive

Special Branch. Over the tumultuous first decade, he is key in ensuring the country's

stability, shaping strategies and initiating new institutions for intelligence and security. He reports directly

to PM Lee. In 1974, when Singapore

is attacked in the Laju Incident - the oil refinery on Pulau Bukom is bombed and civilians

held hostage at gun point - and Tay is tasked to coordinate

all responses, negotiate with the attackers and foreign governments.

Encounters with the Israelis (codenamed "Mexicans") who

assisted in Singapore's military

build up are revealed, as are flash points across the region, when the

Republic's fledgling intelligence agency must rapidly

respond to the Vietnam War and tensions

with neighbours and develop

its place in the world.

This book also tracks Tay's

own challenges: early

retirement and his sudden death

at 47. It then offers a daring, speculative and emotional conversation that juxtaposes those early

years of Singapore with so much that has happened since.