Document Code: SG-H-INT-18 Full Title: Sonny Yap, Richard Lim, and Leong Weng Kam — The Men in White Team and the PAP's Party History Coverage Period: 2000s Level Designation: Level 3 Profile Primary Sources Consulted:

Sonny Yap, Richard Lim, and Leong Weng Kam, Men in White: The Untold Story of Singapore's Ruling Political Party (Singapore: Straits Times Press, 2009)
The Straits Times, reviews and coverage of Men in White

Related Documents:

SG-P-01 | The PAP — Party History and Structure
SG-H-INT-16 | Peh Shing Huei — fellow documentarian
SG-H-INT-17 | Han Fook Kwang — fellow journalist-author
SG-A-01 | Founding of the PAP — institutional history

Version Date: 2026-03-20

Section 1: Key Takeaways

Men in White: The Untold Story of Singapore's Ruling Political Party (2009) is the single most comprehensive account of the People's Action Party's history — a 700+ page work that traces the party from its founding in 1954 through five decades of governance. Written by three Straits Times Press journalists — Sonny Yap, Richard Lim, and Leong Weng Kam — the book is the result of years of research, hundreds of interviews, and unprecedented access to party records.
The book is the closest thing to a definitive party history that exists. It documents the PAP's internal politics, factional struggles, key decisions, personnel choices, and institutional development with a level of detail that no other published work matches. For researchers studying Singapore's governance, it is an essential reference.
The title "Men in White" refers to the PAP's traditional white uniform — the white shirts and trousers that party members wore at rallies and official events, symbolising the party's claim to clean, uncorrupted governance. The title is both descriptive and ironic: it celebrates the party's self-image while implicitly questioning whether the reality matched the symbolism.
The book covers virtually every significant political figure in the PAP's history — from the founding generation (Lee Kuan Yew, Goh Keng Swee, Toh Chin Chye, S. Rajaratnam) through the second and third generations, including ministers, backbenchers, and political office holders at every level. It is the single most important source for understanding the careers and interactions of Singapore's political class.
The book's methodology — extensive interviews with surviving participants, access to party archives, and journalistic narrative — produces a work that is more readable than academic history but more rigorous than most journalistic accounts. The three authors' combined experience at The Straits Times gave them the contacts and institutional knowledge necessary to produce the work.

Section 2: The Record in Brief

The Authors

Sonny Yap was a veteran journalist at The Straits Times with decades of political reporting experience. His knowledge of the PAP's internal dynamics and his relationships with political figures at all levels gave the project credibility and access.

Richard Lim brought research capability and narrative skill to the project. His ability to synthesise vast amounts of archival material into coherent narrative was essential for a book covering five decades of party history.

Leong Weng Kam contributed investigative capability and the ability to pursue difficult questions — including the book's treatment of sensitive topics such as Operation Spectrum, the PAP's relationship with the left, and internal party conflicts.

What the Book Covers

Men in White covers the full arc of PAP history:

The founding era (1954–1959): The formation of the PAP, the uneasy alliance between the English-educated leadership and the Chinese-educated left, the struggle for power within the party.
The first government (1959–1963): The first cabinet, the split with the left (Barisan Sosialis), the decision to seek merger with Malaysia.
Merger and separation (1963–1965): The Malaysia period, the racial tensions, the expulsion/separation.
Building the nation (1965–1984): Industrialisation, nation-building, the consolidation of PAP dominance, the development of the civil service and statutory boards.
Generational transition (1984–2004): The recruitment and development of the second generation, the Goh Chok Tong transition, the emergence of the third generation.

Who the Book Covers

The book profiles or substantially discusses virtually every significant PAP political figure:

All prime ministers and deputy prime ministers
All founding-era ministers and their successors
Key civil servants who interacted with the party
Backbenchers and grassroots leaders
The party's organisational and electoral machinery

Section 3: Significance for the Corpus

Men in White is the single most frequently cited source in this corpus. Its comprehensive coverage, its access to primary sources, and its narrative detail make it indispensable for understanding the careers and interactions of Singapore's political class.

The book's limitations — it was produced with a degree of party cooperation that may have constrained criticism, and it necessarily reflects the perspective of its journalist-authors — should be noted but do not diminish its value as a reference work.

Sources and References

Sonny Yap, Richard Lim, and Leong Weng Kam, Men in White: The Untold Story of Singapore's Ruling Political Party (Singapore: Straits Times Press, 2009).

This document is part of the Singapore Governance Knowledge Corpus.

SG-H-INT-18 | Sonny Yap, Richard Lim, and Leong Weng Kam — The *Men in White* Team