{"id":1568,"date":"2025-08-26T15:48:47","date_gmt":"2025-08-26T07:48:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/nutgraf.com.sg\/?post_type=product&p=1568"},"modified":"2026-05-12T15:28:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T07:28:22","slug":"the-first-fools-b-sides-of-lee-kuan-yews-a-team","status":"publish","type":"product","link":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/nutgraf.com.sg\/product\/the-first-fools-b-sides-of-lee-kuan-yews-a-team\/","title":{"rendered":"The First Fools: B-Sides of Lee Kuan Yew\u2019s A-Team"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Peh is a Singapore Literature Prize-winning author and journalist. He is the author of numerous bestsellers, including\u00a0Neither Civil Nor Servant, The Last Fools, and The First Fools.<\/i>\u00a0He also wrote a pair of authorised biographies on former Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong:\u00a0Tall Order<\/i>\u00a0and\u00a0Standing Tall<\/i>. His maiden solo title\u00a0When The Party Ends\u00a0<\/i>won the\u00a0SIngapore Literature Prize for its gripping on-the-ground reportage of ethnic riots, natural disasters, and political\u00a0upheavals. In addition, he has four picture books, including\u00a0Panjang<\/i>\u00a0which was shortlisted for the Hedwig Anuar Children’s Book Award and\u00a0Ready, Kueh Set, Go!<\/i>\u00a0which won the Singapore Book Awards in 2026. His books are repeated winners of the Popular Readers’ Choice Awards. He is a regular commentator on Singapore and China affairs, and was The Straits Times\u2019 news editor and China bureau chief. He is a political science graduate of the National University of Singapore and Columbia University in New York.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ISBN:\u00a0978-981-17770-7-3 (Paperback)
\nPage Count: 237
\nYear Published: 2025
\nPublisher: The Nutgraf Books
\nDimensions: 227 \u00d7 150 \u00d7 1.6 cm
\nFormat: Softcover<\/p>\n

Writers:
\nSamantha Boh
\nSue-Ann Chia
\nPearl Lee
\nAaron Low
\nJaime Niam
\nPeh Shing Huei
\nPuah Rui Xian
\nToh Wen Li
\nDerek Wong<\/p>\n

Singapore\u2019s founding fathers are the stuff of legend. Much has been written about the indomitable Lee Kuan Yew who transformed a nation from mudflats into metropolis, as well as his fellow Old Guard who left their stamp on almost every aspect of Singapore\u2019s DNA, from the economy to diplomacy to housing. But that is not the whole story.<\/p>\n

See, the 10 larger-than-life personalities who signed the Separation Agreement in 1965 were the nation\u2019s founding fathers. But they were also men \u2014 men who fell in love, who kept secrets, who wrote ghost stories, who played sports (not just golf). They were businessmen, bitter men, and some of the best men Singapore has ever seen. Their names are:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Lee Kuan Yew<\/li>\n
  • Yong Nyuk Lin<\/li>\n
  • E. W. Barker<\/li>\n
  • Goh Keng Swee<\/li>\n
  • Jek Yeun Thong<\/li>\n
  • Lim Kim San<\/li>\n
  • Ong Pang Boon<\/li>\n
  • Othman Wok<\/li>\n
  • S. Rajaratnam<\/li>\n
  • Toh Chin Chye<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    From the authors of\u00a0The Last Fools: The Eight Immortals of Lee Kuan Yew\u00a0<\/i>comes\u00a0The First Fools: B-Sides of Lee Kuan Yew\u2019s A-Team.\u00a0<\/i>Each chapter in this anthology offers readers a different slice of the same story, one that, in the case of many of the Old Guard, has largely been forgotten. Instead of Lee Kuan Yew, the leader, comes Lee Kuan Yew, the lover; instead of S. Rajaratnam, the diplomat, comes S. Rajaratnam, the fiction writer. Many of these stories are relatively unknown to the public, and yet they are gems in history that capture a softer, more intimate side of Singapore\u2019s first-generation leaders. It is a timely read as the nation they helped build commemorates its 60th\u00a0year of independence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":1569,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[15],"product_tag":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1568","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-general","8":"first","9":"instock","10":"taxable","11":"shipping-taxable","12":"purchasable","13":"product-type-simple"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/nutgraf.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product\/1568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/nutgraf.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/nutgraf.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/product"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/nutgraf.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1568"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/nutgraf.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product\/1568\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5092,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/nutgraf.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product\/1568\/revisions\/5092"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/nutgraf.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/nutgraf.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"product_brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/nutgraf.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_brand?post=1568"},{"taxonomy":"product_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/nutgraf.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_cat?post=1568"},{"taxonomy":"product_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/nutgraf.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_tag?post=1568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}