Making of Men In White

Aug 29, 2009

Making of Men In White

A new book on the People's Action Party took three senior journalists more than five years to complete. Backed by four researchers, they conducted 300 interviews and pored over 60 years of press and government records for the 692-page book. Insight finds out about the challenges they faced, what they did to overcome them, and how they put Men In White together.

By Zakir Hussain
		The book, which has a print run of 30,000, will be available at leading bookstores after the launch on Sept 8 at $39.90 a copy before GST. -- ST PHOTO: ALPHONSUS CHERN

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THE man was a key player in the formative years of the People's Action Party (PAP). He had been with the party almost from the start and was privy to many of its goings-on.

A TALE FROM DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE 'NOBODY has told a non-partisan story of the PAP. ... more

So it was natural that Straits Times writers Sonny Yap, Richard Lim and Leong Weng Kam identified him as a key player they must interview when they started work on a book on the PAP.

Unfortunately, the retired politician was known for being reticent and guarded, and for keeping his views to himself since he left politics in the 1980s.

The team's initial overtures were rebuffed. It took more than six months of effort before he agreed to speak, Mr Yap, 59, tells Insight.

Every now and then, the writers would call up a contact who knew him personally, and the reply would be that he was still pondering over it.

Then one day, they had a lucky break. He asked for their list of questions.

But it was followed by months of silence.

'In the meantime, whenever we interviewed or met anyone who knew the subject, we would ask them to intercede on our behalf, to convince him that we had no hidden agenda, that the book was not another exercise in PAP propaganda, that we would be fair, objective and balanced,' says Mr Yap.

Finally, one night, a contact called to say the subject would like to meet Mr Yap for lunch. That was the breakthrough.

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