Escape from the Lion’s Paw contains the reflections of five political exiles (Francis Khoo Kah Siang, Ang Swee Chai, Tan Wah Piow, Ho Juan Thai and Tang Fong Har) and Tsui Hon Kwong who was a Public Service Commission scholar from Hong Kong. Fear of arrest caused them to escape Singapore.

The writers share first-hand accounts of how they fled Singapore to avoid indefinite detention without trial. Stories of how they escaped are certainly interesting — one had to spend days in prison as an illegal immigrant while another went into hiding, pretending to be an illegal worker.

Smokescreens & Mirrors is Tan Wah Piow’s analysis of the “dark art of political sophistry” used in Operation Spectrum. Wah Piow was alleged to be the mastermind of the “Marxist Conspiracy” in 1987. In this book, he examines how Operation Spectrum was conducted, and delves into what various ministers said during the two years since the arrests of 22 people.

Examining the propaganda used by the government and fed to the public by a compliant media during those years, it was understandable why some members of the public believed the official narrative, because there was no other information available. Today, as more neutral and hitherto undisclosed information surfaces, there are increasing calls for the government to be open about what happened during those dark years.

The authors, for obvious reasons, will not be present at the launch. There will however be a panel discussion of the books and you are encouraged to read the books before coming to the event. The books are available at major bookstores like Kinokuniya, Select and Books Actually or online at www.ethosbooks.com.sg