Producer and Presenter Thum Ping Tjin

On this episode, PJ Thum speaks to Faris Joraimi about his book, Raffles Renounced. They talk about how the book came about, how it rejects the orthodoxy of Singapore’s history, its national myth, and how it challenges the Raffles-centric view of the country’s history. They also discuss race and what it means to be Malay in a hyper-racialised society.

This interview was recorded on 8 May 2021 and has been edited for clarity. You can find the full interview on New Naratif’s Youtube channel.

Purchase Raffles Renounced at https://www.ethosbooks.com.sg/products/rafflesrenounced

Thum Ping Tjin (“PJ”) is Founder and Managing Director of New Naratif. A Rhodes Scholar, Commonwealth Scholar, Olympic athlete, and the only Singaporean to swim the English Channel, his work centres on Southeast Asian governance and politics. His most recent work is "Nationalism and Decolonisation in Singapore: The Malayan Generation, 1953-63" (Routledge, 2024).