Hi Mr David, In Pukul Habis, why didn't you write the story from Singapore's perspective?

An early rendering of Pukul Habis' cover, showing a Royal Malaysian Air Force MiG-29 Fulcrum flying away from the reader. Gino, the Brazilian artist who worked on the cover art, and I decided to have the MiG flying towards the reader instead. Sadly, Gino died of COVID before the book could be launched. The book cover is believed to have been his last book project. 

Short answer:
It would have been much easier to write Pukul Habis from the Singaporean perspective. But the short answer - and I say this after very careful consideration over past years - is that I felt we weren't ready for war fiction written this way. Long answer below, please.

Long answer: Why didn't you write the war story from Singapore's perspective?
One of the first questions I got from Gino, the late Brazilian artist who drew the book's cover several years ago, was: "What would you like on the cover?"

At the time, I had two concepts in mind. Option one was to have Gino draw a F-15SG Strike Eagle, wall to wall bombs and missiles, flying at night with the dark gray fighter and its Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) lion head roundel lit by a flaming landscape. That was option one. Please note: Option one means precisely that. It was one of two choices, and not necessarily the first choice.

Option two was a MiG-29 Fulcrum. At the time, Royal Malaysian Air Force MiG-29s had been withdrawn from frontline service but were sitting idle under shelters at Kuantan Air Base. In theory, these fighters could be reactivated. I did not want a Sukhoi Su-30 fighter as I wanted the book cover to suggest that the war story was fictional, imaginary, make belief, an alternate reality. So I went with the MiG - those of you who read the book would know why, and what part these interceptors and their plantation airfield played in the war.

Choosing the F-15 would have set Pukul Habis on a completely different narrative. Had an RSAF asset graced the cover, the book's contents would have matched the tone set by the cover art. The story would have been written from a Singapore-centric point of view, with Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) officers and WOSEs playing central roles, and with more aspects on the republic's defence ecosystem stepping into the limelight (think: the secretive defence science capabilities).

Some of you would probably have gotten a wargasm if it was written this way.

But I picked the MiG. 

Gino and I went through a few iterations of the cover. We discussed which direction should the fighter face, what armament it should carry, tail number, squadron markings, weathering (notice the gun smoke on the cannon port, the mud on the wheels?). I set some ground rules: the Malaysian MiG should not be shown shooting at anything, and there must not be anything shot down in the background. We decided that showing the MiG taking off from a dirt runway would be suitably dynamic as the fighter, fully armed for an air intercept mission, would be depicted while retracting its undercarriage with afterburners blazing and a banner of dust in its wake. 

As some of you have noted, I have been writing about the SAF for a long time. As a war fiction fan myself, I would have liked - just like many of  you - to see the story recounted from a Singaporean lens, with an SAF asset on the cover. While I had been hoping to pen a story with a Singaporean narrative, I felt the time was not right for such a book (apologies, I am unable to go into details). 

Writing it from the Malaysian perspective forced me out of my comfort zone. 

It was a lot more difficult by several orders of magnitude.

Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF) units mentioned in the story had to sound plausible. But what was their order of battle? And the nuances had to suit the organisations and characters portrayed. Even the racial mix among the MAF characters was carefully considered. I had heard the executive officer of the launch crew of the Royal Malaysian Navy's first submarine was a non-Malay -  and modelled the submarine's XO in the book after this officer. A commanding officer of the F/A-18D squadron was a Malaysian Chinese - so I reflected this in the story too. And the list goes on.

Perceptive readers would probably lament the absence of Singapore's defence ecosystem. Let me tell you why.

There was a risk that my hyperactive sense of imagination, creative energy and, ahem, educated guesses on Singapore's secret edge capabilities, the so-called black diamonds, would cut too close to reality. Even if this risk was infinitesimally small, it was a chance I was not willing to take. Several Singaporean authors had published books with a Singapore-Malaysian war theme before. But I think Pukul Habis builds on this legacy and takes the wartime scenarios a step further. 

If you have followed my blog and past writings on the SAF, I leave you to judge how close to reality the alternate narrative could be if I took that path.

On the other hand, if I deliberately chose to describe the black diamonds in the most plain, uninspiring and unimaginative way, where these capabilities were (yawn) no different from what you can find off-the-shelf, then would the story do justice to all those scientists and engineers who toil in the shadows? It would not.

Describe them too creatively and the security watchers might be aroused. Describe them with so-so capabilities and readers would probably criticise the story for lack of punch.

So, in keeping with the theme of recounting the story from a Malaysian perspective, I left out any mention of black diamonds.

For the same reason, I deliberately avoided highlighting SAF decision-making processes. SAF units are mentioned as a supporting cast. When I do go into detail, it is to highlight the length of time required to do certain things -  like assembling M3G rafts - as this length of time has a bearing on how the story unfolds because it shows what the MAF does during that window of opportunity. [Note: Not to reveal spoilers but this is essentially the back story to the chapter - The Crossing. Having the M3Gs preassembled and already in the water before H-hour was one scenario I played with during the war game phase while planning the book. But having scores of two-bay rafts waiting in the strait during a period of tension would have been a red line from Malaysia's perspective and I didn't want to complicate the story further. Since the story appeared, I have had a few people tell me they can finally tell their family and friends what they might do during operations. But we'll save such anecdotes for another time.]

I am glad even the 3-star review on Amazon acknowledged the effort that went into this book. Because it was quite extensive and at times, exhausting physically (like the time I did an overnighter in a palm oil plantation just to see how dark it could get) and mentally.

The fight scenes that you read about are intended to portray the brutal, uncompromising nature of war. As mentioned in the Author's Note (please click here to read it), the element of chance plays a big part in success or failure during operations. Isn't this the same in real life combat?

Military history is filled with examples where commanders or units that come to grief meet disaster not because of their incompetence or lack of elan, but because circumstances conspired against them to rob them of victory. The book's narrative could have quite easily been written with easy victories by the SAF. But how then does one realise and gird onself for the possibility that tactical situations do not always unfold the way you have planned? 

Japanese general Yamashita, who conquered Singapore 80 years ago, noted in after-action reports that his stance during surrender negotiations with British general Percival at the Ford Factory was a bluff. Yamashita knew his army was running out of ammunition at the end of a long and tenuous supply chain. Had the British held firm, if the crated Hurricane fighters had time to be reassembled, if another convoy fought its way into Singapore, if the Royal Navy kept its submarine flotilla in Singapore to interdict Japanese reinforcements, if the gun monitor HMS Terror stayed in the Johor Strait to provide shore bombardment capabilities to British Imperial forces, the Japanese general's gamble might have failed spectacularly. So many "what ifs" could have turned the course of history.

The Royal Navy admiral who led Force Z comprising the battleship, HMS Prince of Wales, and battlecruiser, HMS Repulse, for its sortie off the east coast of the Malay peninsula was no less gutsy. But lacking a submarine screen as a tripwire (RN submarines were withdrawn to the Mediterranean) and proper air cover (the aircraft carrier, HMS Eagle, previously based in the Far East was also redeployed to the Med, and HMS Indomitable had run aground, leaving Force Z with no organic air cover), Japanese bombers sent both ships to the bottom of the South China Sea. The Prince of Wales was the RN's first battleship lost to aircraft. She was also last RN battleship lost in combat, with Repulse the last British battlecruiser lost in battle. An inglorious episode. But the RN bounced back, showed its resilience and achieved mission success, including sinking the Japanese heavy cruiser, Haguro, in a night action by destroyers off Penang late in the war that redeemed the RN's battle reputation. 

Seen from a Malaysian perspective, readers from across the Causeway would have to contend with a storyline where the SAF successfully stages an assault crossing of a one kilometre wide water body and pushes deep inland. I won't give away spoilers but readers would know the crossing wasn't left uncontested. Even fighting with less than its full bench strength, the RSAF manages to control the air. This is an imponderable scenario that the book explored. 

In situations where MAF responses are described, parallels were drawn with actual combat elsewhere. For instance, the performance of a certain counter-rocket, artillery and mortar system against massed rocket barrages was assessed when it was fielded in combat in Israel. We also factored in the likely behaviour of civilians, as seen in numerous YouTube videos. I think the same would happen here, if the fictional C-RAMs ever go into action.

The challenge of finding dispersed, small units under forest cover, even with FOPEN sensors and hyperspectral technology, cannot be understated. And Pukul Habis pulls no punches when highlighting this challenge.

The account of the selfie-taking commander pre-dated the Ukraine war by 2.5 years. Just look at the images and videos taken by combatants from both sides in that theatre - it's something that warfighters are known to do in combat zones.

With Malaysians as protagonists, many of  the action scenes are naturally initiated by MAF officers and other ranks. As such, the Malaysians do most of the firing and pressing of buttons to launch various munitions.

Many of you who have been following defence news from Russia and places like North Korea would probably chuckle at descriptions when they try too hard to describe or upsell the capabilities or performance of their armed forces. The word "copium" crops up frequently when people try to dismiss or explain away battle setbacks.

In Pukul Habis, SAF successes are implied. SAF action on the battlefield is understated in terms of distances covered, and with phase lines achieved under tight operational timescales and while under fire. Please remember that when writing this story, I had to consider Malaysian sensitivities too.

And still, the red wave (as depicted in the MAF command post) creeps north. Hopefully, observers who read about the unfolding battle would be able to discern and acknowledge the success factors, even without the text crowing it out loud.

If the button is pressed, I have every confidence that the SAF can do what it is trained to do. And our armed forces don't need a ringing endorsement from a story book to accomplish mission success.

See Pukul Habis for what it is: a recounting of nightmare scenarios in an unthinkable war. 

In the book's dedication is a line that goes out to all members of the MAF and SAF. That line puts on record my deepest respect for warfighters from both armed forces. 

Do enjoy the story!  

If you are in Malaysia, get the book from Books Kinokuniya's store at Suria KLCC. Kino will also mail it to any location in Malaysia. Please click here for details.

Books Kinokuniya Singapore has stocked Pukul Habis (ISBN 9789811861499). Please visit its main store in Ngee Ann City or Bugis Junction, or check the Kinokuniya online store here.

For readers elsewhere, please check the Amazon sites that serve your location. "Look Inside" function on some sites shows sample pages. "Look Inside" function on some sites shows sample pages.

Singapore: https://bit.ly/3XJzInH

Australia: https://amzn.to/3ViaX0i

Canada: https://amzn.to/3VkjqQP Look Inside

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Sweden: https://bit.ly/3GWq7UI

United Kingdom: https://amzn.to/3EZ6clA Look Inside

USA: https://amzn.to/3Ui3Eo1 Look Inside. When ordering from Singapore, please click on the "Shipping to Singapore?" button. Ignore the "Temporarily out of stock" notice on the Amazon.com page.