| I was born in Singapore, at a time when Singapore was part of Malaysia and still a swamp. At the moment of my arrival, there were racial riots on the island between the Chinese and Malays. A curfew was imposed and my mother had a hard time getting to the hospital. She continues to marvel at my sense of occasion. |
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Always a curious child, this is me at four months trying to figure out why the world was the way it was. I’m still working on the answer. |
| Because I come from a musical family, everyone assumed that I would learn an instrument. They would ask my mother, ‘When is your daughter going to start the piano?’ This infuriated me – how dare they not ask my opinion! Naturally, I refused to learn the piano. This is something I regret. Outwardly I continued looking angelic … |  |
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… if a little nerdy. This photo was taken in 1974 when we visited Trafalgar Square on my first overseas trip. It was exciting seeing places I had read so much about. We knew a lot about Britain, but the same was not true vice-versa. In those days people shook their heads when Malaysia was mentioned. Now everyone has heard of "the country which lost that plane". |