Once a Teenage Runaway, living rough in a colonial port city, S R Nathan rose to become two-term president of prosperous, independent Singapore. In this exceptional book, he shares the story of his personal journey, set against the backdrop of modern Singapore history. He tells his own story, simply and vividly. Accused of theft at the age of 16, he ran away from home. Living by his wits through war and occupation, he found new self-belief in unexpected sources, and experienced the political awakening that shaped so many of his generation. Rejected for years by the family of the girl he was to marry, Nathan worked hard to better himself, serving as a junior clerk in the Johore civil service and joining the pioneer batch of Singaporeans to study social work at the University of Malaya in 1952. The story of the struggle between the left and right wings of the student and labour movements comes alive in Nathan’s retelling of his experiences as an activist, social worker and unionist. In 1965, with Singapore’s unexpected separation from Malaysia, S R Nathan joined the fledgling Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and came to hold a number of senior civil service positions, including a term as director of intelligence …