Synopsis:

This book is for all who are interested in the lesser-known narratives of Singapore's social and political story.

Nantah University, a true people's university built on funds raised by students, taxi drivers, hawkers, barbers, dance hostesses, and businessmen—people of the street—was the first Chinese-medium university established outside of China, Taiwan, Hong Kong.

Despite being an apex of the Chinese education system in the 1960s and 1970s, the university had faced many obstacles, right from the day it was conceived:

1. An opposition and refusal of support by colonial rulers.

2. Portrayal as communist-inspired and a breeding ground for anti-government subversives.

3. Ambivalence in the recognition of Nantah's degree within the government, and a strong support for English education institutions.

4. Lack of support from post-independence and then ostensibly left-wing People's Action Party (PAP) government, who then worked to close down the University.

This is the first full and comprehensive account in English accounting the successive persecutions that finally led to the closure of Nantah University.

Join author Tan Kok Chiang at this book launch as he speaks in-depth about the tumultuous journey of Nantah University and the factors leading to the ultimate demise of the first and only people's university in Singapore.