SG-H-INT-16 | Peh Shing Huei — The Documentarian of Singapore's Founding Generation

Document Code: SG-H-INT-16 Full Title: Peh Shing Huei — The Documentarian of Singapore's Founding Generation Coverage Period: 1970s–present Level Designation: Level 3 Profile Primary Sources Consulted:

1. Peh Shing Huei (ed.), The Last Fools: The Eight Immortals of Lee Kuan Yew (2022)
2. Peh Shing Huei, The First Fools: B-Sides of Lee Kuan Yew's A-Team (2025)
3. Peh Shing Huei, Tall Order: The Goh Chok Tong Story, Volume 1 (2018)
4. Peh Shing Huei, Standing Tall: The Goh Chok Tong Years, Volume 2 (2021)
5. Peh Shing Huei, Neither Civil Nor Servant: The Philip Yeo Story (2016)
6. Peh Shing Huei, When the Party Ends: China's Leaps and Stumbles after the Beijing Olympics (2014)
7. Peh Shing Huei, Strictly Business: The Kwek Leng Beng Story (2023)
8. Peh Shing Huei et al., The Price of Being Fair: The FairPrice Group Story (2023)
9. Peh Shing Huei, Not So Little Red Dot: 60 Years of Singapore's Diplomacy (2025)
10. Peh Shing Huei, Project 0812: The Inside Story of Singapore's Journey to Olympic Glory (2017)
11. The Straits Times, articles by and about Peh Shing Huei

Related Documents:

• SG-H-CS-04 | George Bogaars — profiled in The Last Fools
• SG-H-CS-19 | Philip Yeo — subject of Neither Civil Nor Servant
• SG-H-CS-07 | J.Y. Pillay — profiled in The Last Fools
• SG-H-CS-23 | Sim Kee Boon — profiled in The Last Fools
• SG-H-CS-14 | Ngiam Tong Dow — profiled in The Last Fools
• SG-H-MIN-62 | Hon Sui Sen — profiled in The Last Fools
• SG-H-MIN-13 | Howe Yoon Chong — profiled in The Last Fools
• SG-H-INT-14 | Irene Ng — fellow political journalist-author

Version Date: 2026-03-20

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Section 1: Key Takeaways

• Peh Shing Huei is arguably the most important documentarian of Singapore's founding and second-generation political leaders working today. A Singapore Literature Prize winner, former Straits Times news editor and China bureau chief, NUS and Columbia University graduate, and founding partner of content agency The Nutgraf, he has written or edited approximately 15 books with total sales exceeding 100,000 copies.

• His two most significant works for the governance corpus are the "Fools" duology:

  • The Last Fools: The Eight Immortals of Lee Kuan Yew (2022) profiles eight pioneering civil servants — the "Eight Immortals" — who built modern Singapore's institutions. Five of these eight served as Head of the Civil Service between 1968 and 1999.
  • The First Fools: B-Sides of Lee Kuan Yew's A-Team (2025) humanises the 10 men who signed Singapore's 1965 Separation Agreement, telling personal rather than political stories about each.

• His two-volume authorized biography of Goh Chok Tong — Tall Order (2018) and Standing Tall (2021) — is the definitive account of Singapore's second Prime Minister, covering his rise from modest beginnings through his PMship.

• Neither Civil Nor Servant: The Philip Yeo Story (2016) documents the maverick civil servant who created Jurong Island, developed Batam, and established Biopolis and A*STAR.

• His maiden book, When the Party Ends (2014), is about China — specifically China's trajectory after the 2008 Beijing Olympics — based on his years as Straits Times China bureau chief. It won the Singapore Literature Prize for Non-Fiction in 2016. (Note: this is not about S. Rajaratnam — that was Irene Ng's The Singapore Lion.)

• His range extends beyond political biography to include corporate history (Strictly Business: The Kwek Leng Beng Story, 2023; The Price of Being Fair: The FairPrice Group Story, 2023), diplomacy (Not So Little Red Dot: 60 Years of Singapore's Diplomacy, 2025, authorized by MFA), and sports (Project 0812: Singapore's Journey to Olympic Glory, 2017).

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Section 2: The Record in Brief

Peh Shing Huei built his career in Singapore journalism, working at The Straits Times where he served as news editor and later as China bureau chief. His four years in China produced his maiden book and Singapore Literature Prize winner, When the Party Ends (2014), which covered China's post-Olympics trajectory including the dramatic downfall of Bo Xilai.

His bilingual capability (English and Chinese) — honed at both NUS and Columbia University's graduate journalism programme — gives him a depth of access that monolingual researchers cannot achieve, particularly with Chinese-educated subjects and sources.

After leaving daily journalism, he co-founded The Nutgraf, a content agency, while continuing to produce long-form biographical and institutional narratives. This dual career — content entrepreneur and governance chronicler — has proven remarkably productive.

The Last Fools: The Eight Immortals of Lee Kuan Yew (2022)

This is Peh's most important contribution to the governance record. The book profiles eight civil servants who collectively built Singapore's key institutions:

1. George Bogaars — Head of Civil Service; security and intelligence
2. Andrew Chew — Permanent Secretary for Health; architect of Medisave and MediShield
3. Hon Sui Sen — First EDB Chairman; Finance Minister; talent-spotter who discovered Tony Tan and Goh Chok Tong
4. Howe Yoon Chong — HDB's first chief executive; transformed slums into modern public housing
5. Lee Ek Tieng — Senior civil servant
6. Ngiam Tong Dow — The most outspoken of the senior civil servants
7. J.Y. Pillay — Built Singapore Airlines and Changi Airport
8. Sim Kee Boon — Key infrastructure and civil service leader

The title "The Last Fools" captures the self-deprecating ethos of a generation that chose nation-building over personal enrichment — and the word "last" because subsequent generations, operating in a different economic context with ministerial salaries pegged to private-sector benchmarks, would face fundamentally different incentive structures. Peh served as editor of the collection, with contributing writers including Aaron Low, Derek Wong, Jacqueline Woo, Justin Kor, Prabhu Silvam, Samantha Boh, and Sue-Ann Chia.

The First Fools: B-Sides of Lee Kuan Yew's A-Team (2025)

Released for Singapore's 60th National Day (SG60), this companion volume profiles the 10 signatories of the 1965 Separation Agreement — but tells their personal "B-side" stories rather than their well-known political narratives:

1. Lee Kuan Yew — presented as "the lover" rather than the leader
2. Goh Keng Swee — the economic architect's human side
3. S. Rajaratnam — "the fiction writer" rather than the diplomat
4. Toh Chin Chye — the reluctant politician
5. E.W. Barker — the sportsman and lawyer
6. Lim Kim San — the builder
7. Ong Pang Boon — the organiser
8. Othman Wok — the Malay leader
9. Jek Yeun Thong — the labour organiser
10. Yong Nyuk Lin — the education pioneer

Tall Order (2018) and Standing Tall (2021)

The two-volume authorized biography of Goh Chok Tong covers his childhood, career at Neptune Orient Lines, entry into politics, key policy innovations (Medisave, Total Defence, Residents' Committees, the NMP scheme), the Anson by-election defeat, tensions with Lee Kuan Yew over succession, and his years as PM transforming Singapore into a global city. Tall Order won the Popular Readers' Choice Awards in 2019.

Neither Civil Nor Servant: The Philip Yeo Story (2016)

The biography of Philip Yeo covers his creation of Jurong Island (merging seven offshore islands into a petrochemical hub), his development of Batam (Indonesia), his establishment of Biopolis and ASTAR, and his career spanning the military, EDB, and ASTAR. The title captures Yeo's rejection of the conventional civil servant identity.

When the Party Ends: China's Leaps and Stumbles after the Beijing Olympics (2014)

Peh's maiden book, based on his four years as Straits Times China bureau chief. It covers China's trajectory after the 2008 Olympics — labour unrest in Guangdong, the Urumqi riots, the Cultural Revolution museum in Shantou, and the dramatic downfall of Bo Xilai leading to the 2012 leadership transition. Winner of the Singapore Literature Prize (Non-Fiction) 2016.

Strictly Business: The Kwek Leng Beng Story (2023)

Biography of one of Singapore's most successful and enigmatic tycoons, head of Hong Leong Group and City Developments Limited. Covers six decades of dealmaking across real estate, hospitality, finance, and manufacturing on five continents.

The Price of Being Fair: The FairPrice Group Story (2023)

Authorized history of NTUC FairPrice on its 50th anniversary, tracing it from one store in 1973 to a S$4 billion enterprise with 500+ outlets. Co-written with Sue-Ann Chia and others. Winner of 1st prize, Popular Readers' Choice Awards 2023.

Not So Little Red Dot: 60 Years of Singapore's Diplomacy (2025)

Authorized by MFA for its 60th anniversary. Covers seven key episodes in Singapore's diplomatic history including the Trump-Kim Summit and the formation of ASEAN. Blends comics by Cheah Sinann with prose. Launched by Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan.

Project 0812: The Inside Story of Singapore's Journey to Olympic Glory (2017)

The story of Singapore's quest to win Olympic medals at the 2008 Beijing and 2012 London Olympics. Led by IOC member Ng Ser Miang, focusing on table tennis, badminton, sailing, and shooting.

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Section 3: Complete Bibliography

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Section 4: Significance for the Corpus

Peh Shing Huei's work is not merely a source for this corpus — it is a model for the kind of documentation that this corpus attempts. His approach — rigorous research, extensive interviewing, narrative accessibility, honest assessment — is precisely what is needed to preserve the stories of Singapore's governance for future generations.

The "Eight Immortals" and the Civil Service Record

The Last Fools is particularly important because it documents the civil servants — the implementing class that translated political decisions into institutional reality. Most Singapore governance documentation focuses on the political leaders; The Last Fools gives the civil servants their due. The eight figures profiled collectively built the airport (Pillay), the airline (Pillay), the housing system (Howe Yoon Chong), the healthcare financing system (Andrew Chew), the economic development machinery (Hon Sui Sen), the security apparatus (Bogaars), and the infrastructure systems (Sim Kee Boon) that made Singapore function.

The Documentation Gap He Addresses

Singapore faces a significant documentation challenge: the founding generation is almost entirely gone, and the second generation is aging. Peh's work is among the most important efforts to close this gap. His bilingual capability (English and Chinese) allows him to access sources and conduct interviews that monolingual researchers cannot, giving his work a depth and authenticity that is particularly valuable for the Chinese-educated cohort of the founding generation.

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Section 5: Other Singapore Documentarians and Authors

Peh Shing Huei's work sits within a broader ecosystem of Singapore governance documentation:

• Han Fook Kwang — former Straits Times editor; co-authored Lee Kuan Yew: The Man and His Ideas (1998) and Hard Truths to Keep Singapore Going (2011)
• Irene Ng — former journalist and MP; authored The Singapore Lion: A Biography of S. Rajaratnam (2010)
• Sonny Yap, Richard Lim, Leong Weng Kam — Men in White: The Untold Story of Singapore's Ruling Political Party (2009)
• Lam Peng Er and Kevin Y.L. Tan — Lee's Lieutenants: Singapore's Old Guard (1999)
• Lee Kuan Yew — The Singapore Story (1998) and From Third World to First (2000)
• V.K. Rajan — Serving Singapore: My Journey (2019)
• Kishore Mahbubani — Can Singapore Survive? (2015) and numerous other works

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Section 6: Honest Assessment

Peh Shing Huei's limitations are those inherent in the cooperative biography genre: his subjects (or their families and commissioning institutions) grant access partly because they trust him to be fair, and this cooperation inevitably shapes what questions are asked and how answers are framed. Several of his books are authorized or commissioned — the Goh Chok Tong biography, the FairPrice history, the MFA diplomacy book — and this authorization provides access but may constrain criticism.

However, in the context of Singapore's governance documentation landscape, where the alternatives are either official hagiography or external criticism from afar, Peh's work occupies a valuable middle ground. His Singapore Literature Prize for When the Party Ends (a book about China, not Singapore) demonstrates that his best work transcends the cooperative biography format.

His contribution to Singapore's historical record — approximately 15 books documenting political leaders, civil servants, corporate figures, and institutions — is substantial and unmatched by any other individual author working today. As the founding generation passes from the scene, the biographical and institutional accounts he has produced will become increasingly important as primary sources.

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Sources and References

• Peh Shing Huei, When the Party Ends (2014). Singapore Literature Prize Winner 2016.
• Peh Shing Huei, Neither Civil Nor Servant (2016).
• Peh Shing Huei, Project 0812 (2017).
• Peh Shing Huei, Tall Order (2018). Popular Readers' Choice Awards Winner 2019.
• Peh Shing Huei, Standing Tall (2021).
• Peh Shing Huei (ed.), The Last Fools (2022). Popular Readers' Choice Awards 2nd Runner-up 2022.
• Peh Shing Huei, Strictly Business (2023).
• Peh Shing Huei et al., The Price of Being Fair (2023). Popular Readers' Choice Awards 1st Prize 2023.
• Peh Shing Huei, The First Fools (2025).
• Peh Shing Huei, Not So Little Red Dot (2025).
• The Nutgraf (nutgraf.com.sg), Peh Shing Huei biographical page.

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This document is part of the Singapore Governance Knowledge Corpus.