Jeremy Tiang

First line: Mollie Remedios died in the explosion that tore apart MacDonald House on 10 March 1965.

State of Emergency is the story of an extended family over the course of sixty years of turbulent Southeast Asian history. Each chapter is told from the point of view of a different person, which adds depth and perspective. The book opens with Jason looking back over his life from a hospital bed: the death of his sister from an Indonesian guerilla bombing, his wife's sudden disappearance leaving him with young twins, and his relationship with his children. The second chapter is told from Siew Li's perspective: being imprisoned as a middle schooler for being a Communist, Jason visiting her in prison and their subsequent marriage, and her flight to the jungle. Every chapter adds another layer to the picture, a different perspective of the same family. The result is an impressive interlocking story with fantastic pacing.

I was tempted to speed through the book, as I was pulled along with the story, but the writing made me want to slow down and savor the language and imagery. I loved Tiang's writing and will definitely look for more of his work, although there isn't a lot. He's a translator and author of a book of short stories, in addition to this novel, which won the Singapore Literature Prize in 2018. I have not read a lot of literature from Singapore or Malaysia, so this was a welcome find.… (más)

This is a sweeping novel about a family during the tumultuous period from the end of WWII through the end of colonialism and the founding of Malaysia and Singapore and the political ramifications that continued for decades. The novel begins simply, with a boy on his way home from school seeing a girl at a protest and talking to her. They begin a relationship that will eventually lead to marriage and two children, but his life as an English-speaking schoolboy on his way to a job in the civil service is a long way from hers as a Chinese-speaking communist who is detained for her views and never entirely safe in this new country. As she disappears and her children grow up without her, her absence affects them into adulthood, when her son decides to find out what happened.

I know very little about the history of that part of Asia and Tiang's novel does a fantastic job of informing the Western reader about the events and factors that formed Singapore and Malaysia, from the British treatment of suspected insurgents during the Malayan Emergency, to the methods used to repress dissent, especially from communist groups. And while the history was fascinating, Tiang also weaves a very human story about family and the connections between people. An impressive debut novel and I hope to see more by Tiang.… (más)

65/2021. State of Emergency : a novel, by Jeremy Tiang, is mostly set in Singapore and Malaysia before, during, and after independence. It focusses on the Singaporean and Malayan Chinese communities' political relationships with the state, especially the suppressed history of repression against anyone left of centre, told through the actions of one woman and the reactions rippling outwards through her extended family. It's surprisingly honest, and I note that the author lives in the US not Singapore. Before I read this I'd only encountered Tiang as a translator, and a good one, but he's a skilled storyteller too.

The putative protagonist is Siew Li a Chinese Singaporean woman who becomes involved in leftist politics, is detained without trial, and subsequently flees Singapore to make a new life and a second family in Malaysia and Thailand. The supporting characters are her two husbands, her children, her niece, and one old school friend. As you might expect under the circumstances, sometimes Siew Li is more revealed by her absence than her presence. It's hard to read about history repeating itself in the worst ways but Tiang captures the complexities by examining events with an unflinching eye as he weaves his fiction through reality.

Tiang is clear about the overt and covert political violence of authoritarian British colonialism on British subjects in South-East Asia, including events such as the Batang Kali massacre, and the overt and covert political violence of authoritarian Singaporean government on Singaporean citizens. But his characters also compare their experiences of this repression with the effects of foreign and domestic terrorism, and Japanese military occupation, which made it easier for British colonialism to be spun as comparatively "benevolent", especially by the local English-educated Singaporean politicians and administrators who took and held power after Independence. Tiang is as honest about internal divisions, especially those of class and culture and race.

And anyone who doesn't believe a clean tidy state such as Singapore could have such a messy dirty history can google for repeat detainee Linda Chen, and the world's longest political detainee Chia Thye Poh (never arrested or charged or convicted, but detained and disappeared for decades despite being a legitimately elected Member of Parliament).

An extremely impressive first novel.

Quotes

Political prisoner of the British Empire, detained without trial (for two years): "She was detained indefinitely - no indication at all if she'd ever be released. It wasn't fair, a girl of fifteen with everything still to come." (While she's imprisoned her boyfriend, in his late teens, willingly does his National Service conscripted for two years into the British military. Ironically the same military avoided conscripting Black and Asian men in the UK because racism.)

Decolonisation the profitable way: "The Tourist Board waited with impatience for the British to withdraw so their military base, already surrounded by every imaginable security feature, could be turned into a fine new airport."

State of Emergency: "No one could afford a proper war, it was far too soon after the last one. The small skirmishes and localised terror kept everyone on their toes."

Good title for a novel: "the possibility of justice".… (más)