Why Did I Write Palace of Ghosts?

This is a question I am often asked. It is also one that I have also pondered at length. It took me a while to work through the reasons, but I only did so after I had completed the first manuscript. My thought process did not follow a logical, sequential trajectory. I did not, for example, initially identify the reasons I might embark on such a course of action, then weigh up the pros and cons, and then evaluate whether or not to proceed. Rather it was fact a gut feeling. I had to write the story, and the more I researched, the stronger that instinct became. It was only tens of thousands of written words later that I attempted to rationalise why I had done it.

The main reasons are those I have set out below. But it’s not an exhaustive list, and I may well come back to these points in a later post.

The lure of an untold story. I believe that it is possible to sense history even if there appears to be a gap in the record and you don't know what the missing detail is. There is a deep sense of satisfaction, even an excitement, to be able to join the dots; to sense that something is missing from the record and then to discover what it is. Such discoveries add meaning to our understanding. If you see an empty abandoned house, for example, you might be curious about it; if you could also understand who lived there then more so; if then to discover what happened prior to its being abandoned, then there is an enhanced feeling of consolation or reassurance that you have resolved, at least partially, that sensation of anxiety that something was missing.

Curiosity about why things are what they are. Why is Singapore so successful? Why is it, at the same time, that the sense of collective historical memory or consciousness is so weak that it translates into an all-encompassing sense of vulnerability? How does this affect Singaporeans sense of who they are, their collective self-consciousness and self-confidence about the past and the future? I am not Singaporean, but I have lived here for over 16 years, and it is a paradox that intrigues me.

A riveting story told from a different perspective. If there is one thing my career in media has shown me it is the incredible power of a good story. Palace of Ghosts is not an alternative narrative, but a narrative that augments an existing one, adding new dimensions and a richness to the understanding of history. It is a fascinating, intriguing and new account of events that transpired and together they represent a single-story arc that predates 1819 and continues into the digital world of contemporary living.

Explanations that look beyond modern day geopolitics. Today, and in recent decades, we continue to see, globally, the rise and fall of empires and the creation of nation states. These are current issues that affect all of us. Residents in the immediate region surrounding Singapore may not think such things are relevant to them, but they are. Palace of Ghosts covers a period where all such tumultuous events happened. It seeks to understand and add colour to how and why the region known as the Johor-Riau Sultanate evolved from its late 19th century manifestation to its appearance on maps and satellite images today as Singapore and its neighbouring nation states.

This satellite image from the Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission is, of course absent of any border markings (I have added country and city labels for orientation). It immediately suggests a single integrated region, and makes it obvious that today’s borders are artificial. In relatively recent history, the mainland to the north and the islands to the south had been a single political entity, and has been for centuries. (The specks of colour in the sea just south of Singapore are the thousands of trading vessels which pass through the area every day). (Source: Click here).

Lessons from the evolution of a city. In an age when globalization is rubbished and our news is full of the degradation, and even destruction, of cities, Singapore shines as a bright light of peaceful, multicultural co-existence and optimal urban living. Anyone with even a passing interest in building successful cities for the future should be paying keen attention. But it did not just happen by chance. Nor did it happen in just the last 60 years, as some would have us believe. For its sustained success over many centuries to be properly understood, Singapore has to be thought of in its proper historical context of a city-hinterland dynamic. Similarly, its historic multiculturalism, connectedness and openness to the outside world can teach us a lot about addressing global problems. There is nowhere else on earth that can demonstrate inter-communal harmony combined with prosperity, sustainability and innovation, among other things, to the extent that Singapore can. A need to understand the “why” and “how” of this from a historical perspective, one that reaches back beyond the historical compartments more recently created as part of a simplified and more readily marketable story, was a major source of motivation to write Palace of Ghosts.

The last reason is a bit more personal. I've always wanted to write a book: to create something using my brain instead of selling stuff that other people have made. The thing is, I don't think it's possible to write a book in your spare time unless you happen to be J.K. Rowling. So when the opportunity came, (during COVID-19), to step out of the corporate life and devote myself 100% to writing something that combined my passion for history and Asia, I took it.