{"id":2268,"date":"2025-05-24T04:32:51","date_gmt":"2025-05-24T04:32:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.peranakan.org.sg\/tpasmag\/?p=2268"},"modified":"2025-05-24T04:38:11","modified_gmt":"2025-05-24T04:38:11","slug":"the-local-immigrant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.peranakan.org.sg\/theperanakanmagazine\/the-local-immigrant\/","title":{"rendered":"The Local Immigrant"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Baba Colin Chee reviews this best-selling work by Jonty Tan<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Very often, it takes a fresh pair of eyes to pick out the extraordinary from the mundane. Familiarity numbs our senses. It is what we mean when we say: Why don\u2019t you look at Singapore with the eyes of a tourist who is here for the first time? Baba Jonty Tan has very successfully achieved this with his debut book, but with a great deal more heart. It is the combined elements of personal revelations and wonderful storytelling that makes Jonty\u2019s The Local Immigrant <\/em>such an interesting read. <\/em>No wonder it was on Kinokuniya\u2019s best seller list for 17 weeks after its June 2022 launch!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his insightful Foreword for the book, Dr Mark Wenzel, head of one of the international schools in Singapore, wrote, “I felt like I was reading well-written letters from an old friend sharing new discoveries as he explored culture, identity and self.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jonty describes his book as the story of a “Third Culture” kid who found his way home. He sees himself as one of those people born in Singapore who grew up in a culture (British) different from that of his parents (Singaporean). His father is a Peranakan, and mother, a Teochew. But they whisked him and his older sister to the United Kingdom from their Ang Mo Kio flat, in pursuit of careers, when he was a toddler. The family became British citizens after working, studying and living in the UK for over 10 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even so, Jonty writes, \u201cI never felt like I fitted in the UK. I loved being there and I had some good friends, but there was always a level of discomfort in my own skin.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

34 years later, in the middle of the COVID pandemic, Jonty found himself \u201csitting on a bench in Ang Mo Kio, a resident in my country of birth for the first time, taking in the sights, smells, feelings, taste, sounds of the neighbourhood (into which he was born). There was also a deeper sense of home, belonging and fulfilment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He had returned \u201chome\u201d. To Singapore, with his supportive English wife, Millie, and two kids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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But I like best Jonty\u2019s take on how he will live with his many identities and influences: \u201cIt is important for me to embrace my Peranakan-Teochew-Singaporean-Britishness by learning about each aspect and living authentically, understanding that I can call all of these cultures mine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Jonty\u2019s chapters on What makes a Singaporean<\/em> and Found Heritage<\/em> are especially meaningful and poignant as he explores his inner self to uncover who and what he is. He does this thoughtfully while analysing and observing his environment for a more nuanced understanding of Singaporean values, identity, and culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One interesting observation: \u201cFor us and many of our friends in the UK, to be financially stable was about being comfortable, about owning a house or having nice things. In Singapore there is a different emphasis. Some of it is pride – showing pride in our nation and, also, pride in ourselves. Hard work is valued and there is a culture about being successful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And this reflection on heritage: \u201cI love my Peranakan heritage and I would love to see it flourishing. It is hard to maintain some of the customs and traditions and so perhaps we need to redefine what a Peranakan is – not to change, or recreate, but just to redefine, perhaps to emphasize different aspects and from these strengths, develop the modern Peranakan.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I like best Jonty\u2019s take on how he will live with his many identities and influences: \u201cIt is important for me to embrace my Peranakan-Teochew-Singaporean-Britishness by learning about each aspect and living authentically, understanding that I can call all of these cultures mine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He concludes succinctly: \u201cPerhaps this is what makes Singapore so special and what connects us all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photo credits: Mr Ow Yi Xun and Mr Christopher Soon<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Baba Colin Chee reviews this best-selling work by Jonty Tan Very often, it takes a fresh pair of eyes to pick out the extraordinary from the mundane. Familiarity numbs our senses. It is what we mean when we say: Why don\u2019t you look at Singapore with the eyes of a tourist who is here for the first time? Baba Jonty Tan has very successfully achieved this with his debut book, but with a great deal more heart. It is the combined elements of personal revelations and wonderful storytelling that makes Jonty\u2019s The Local Immigrant such an interesting read. No wonder<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2269,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[118],"class_list":["post-2268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reviews","tag-118"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peranakan.org.sg\/theperanakanmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peranakan.org.sg\/theperanakanmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peranakan.org.sg\/theperanakanmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peranakan.org.sg\/theperanakanmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peranakan.org.sg\/theperanakanmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2268"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.peranakan.org.sg\/theperanakanmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2268\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2273,"href":"https:\/\/www.peranakan.org.sg\/theperanakanmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2268\/revisions\/2273"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peranakan.org.sg\/theperanakanmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peranakan.org.sg\/theperanakanmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peranakan.org.sg\/theperanakanmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peranakan.org.sg\/theperanakanmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}