Joe Conceicao

Joe Conceicao, 85, has in his years of public service, been a teacher, Member of Parliament, and Singapore’s Ambassador to Russia and Indonesia, and High Commissioner to Australia.

Since his retirement, which he considers early, as he was only about seventy at that time, he has spent time studying – he ventured into the realm of theological studies and obtained a certificate from the Australian Catholic University. He also spent time writing. His first book in 2004 was an autobiography entitled Flavours of Change. His second book, Indonesia’s Six Years of Living Dangerously was published in 2005.

Joe and his wife, Anita, live in Katong.

Singapore and The Many-Headed Monster
by Joe Conceicao
ISBN: 9789810578824
Price: SGD18.00 (w/o GST)
History - Paperback
Horizon Books

A Number of historians have published academic approaches on the various riots and ethnic and religious disturbances that have taken place in Singapore. "Singapore and the Many-headed Monster" is not one of them. This book is a personal and heart-felt look at the tragic instances when the many-headed monster - riots - reared its ugly heads and marred Singapore's history.The author also writes with compassion about those who were made sacrificial victims; and reads conclusions relevant and imperative for today's living.

Indonesia's Six Years of Living Dangerously
by Joe Conceicao
ISBN: 9789810523077
Price: SGD22.00 (w/o GST)
Current Affair - Paperback
Horizon Books

For Indonesia, the years 1998 to 2004 were a period of political travail. Presidents Habibie, Gus Dur and Megawati, whose regimes spanned this period, succumbed to the perils of running a huge country with a complex political environment, each in a characteristic way. But what brought all of them down was hubis, the inability to see where their ignorance of the truth and reality of their politics would finally lead them. The Trojan Horse for each was the military, who wages an indefatigable battle to keep its power and Indonesia's unity intact.
It can be hope that President Yudhoyono, a retired general, will not make the same mistakes as his predecessors. His first move was to use his Vice-President Jusuf Kalla's influence to win a majority in Parliament. Mr Jusuf was subsequently elected to the chairmanship of the powerful Golkar party.

Flavours of Change
by Joe Conceicao
Destiny and Diplomacy – Recollections of a
Singapore Ambassador
ISBN: 9789810503925
Price: SGD25.00 (w/o GST)
Biography - Paperback
Horizon Books

Former Member of Parliament and diplomat Joe Conceicao has vivid recollections of the kampong ambience of his varied early years in the Singapore of the 1920s and 1930s. But Katong became his special matrix and Singapore his larger womb for growth. He was an adolescent at the time of the Japanese Invasion and Occupation and learned many lessons, some painful, others enlightening. He was often able to glean some humour from the vicissitudes of life: his account of his career as a grass-cutter for the Japanese is priceless. After the war, he experienced brief cycles of work as a police clerk, petroleum clerk and administrative clerk, before deciding to become a teacher. But nagged by good and evil spirits, Joe left St Patrick's School to gain a degree. He later joined the university as a teacher-administrator in what was then the perceived “black-sheep” department of continuing education. This turned out to be his stepping-stone to a political career. He both enjoyed and suffered in his new role, and survived to become an ambassador of his country.

“ Flavours of Change is not a set dinner where appetizer must precede entrée. It is more like a tray of finger food, which one can dip into with pleasure according to the whim of the moment”
-George Yeo, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Singapore


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