Letters from an old guard

FORMER deputy prime minister S Jayakumar, now 81, last week released his fifth book. Titled Governing: A Singapore Perspective, the volume comes in six parts. The first two parts contain vignettes from his political and diplomatic career. He offers anecdotes of working life with former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, and of encounters with world figures from Nelson Mandela to Robert Mugabe, and Queen Elizabeth II - as well as her pet corgis.

The next three contain short essays on legal and policy matters. He tackles the delineation of roles between the government, the judiciary, and the attorney-general's chambers. He gives his take on specific issues, like Section 377A of the Penal Code, the use of the death penalty, caning and preventive detention. He also lifts the veil on land acquisitions, from his two-decade tenure as Law Minister.

The final part will generate the most public attention, in which he gives his take on recent challenging issues for Singapore.