A Sikh Boy in Hokkien Gangland. Boh Cheng Hoo

This first of a trilogy resurrects a nostalgic past in the 1950s when Singapore was a predominantly Angmoh colony, till the 1960s with the lightning arrival of a new political era.
It traces a journey in time when Singapore encountered internal dangers from secret societies, criminals and riots; and external threats like the Indonesian Confrontation and separation from the Malaysian Federation. 
All this and more from the perspective of a boy who traces his roots to his parents’ Punjabi heritage, learning the lingua franca of his kampong friends, escaping the clutches of secret society harassment and the deprivations of abject poverty.