A woman’s escape from an arranged marriage in Singapore. She comes from the flamboyant Tiger Balm family; her wealthy husband from Brunei with CIA connections.
The difficulties encountered with corrupt lawyers and judges in Singapore made this lady's divorce extremely difficult.
This was further complicated by the wealth of her ex-husband, the owner of X10, the company behind those bothersome pop-up ads on the Internet.
The adventure takes place in Singapore, Brunei, Australia, England, and the United States, and touches on some powerful people in Singapore, as well as CIA agent Dan Arnold, and the United Kingdom's former Lord Chancellor Alexander Irvine.
From its first paragraph, Escape from Paradise draws the reader into the ambiance of a cosmopolitan Asia never touched upon by any other book.
Escape from Paradise continues to rank in Amazon UK's top ten books on divorce.
Excerpt
Jim's wife, Lynn, a resourceful strong-willed English girl, was unable to bring herself, until years later, to tell me exactly what had happened with the police in Brunei.
She and her husband, Jim, S. P.'s number two son, had been awakened during the night by a party of six plainclothesmen from the Royal Brunei Police. They were looking for Hin Chew’s father, S. P. Chung. Fortunately, the wily S. P., a step ahead of the police, was safely out of Brunei.
The police searched every part of Lynn’s house in Brunei, including a locked room, upstairs, where S. P. kept his "archives."
At one point, Jim, trembling with nerves, had to go to the bathroom - this he was allowed to do only with a policeman present.
After several hours of searching the house, the police left, but only after confiscating Jim's passport and informing him that he could not leave Brunei. The police carted off all the documents and papers they could find in the house.
The next morning, accompanied by a lawyer, Jim drove Lynn and their daughter, Tammy, only five months old, to the airport where he managed to get them on a flight to Singapore and freedom.
Unfortunately, on that very day, Hin Chew was arriving at that same Brunei airport with no knowledge of what had happened the night before. Predictably, Hin Chew's passport was confiscated on arrival, and he too was told that he could not leave Brunei.
On reaching Singapore, Lynn went directly from the airport to the apartment of Peter, S. P.'s number three son, and his Australian wife, Rosita, an attractive brunette.
Peter was tall, slim, and the only one of S. P.'s sons able to grow a real mustache. He was considered, even by himself, to be the best looking of S. P.'s four sons.
At Peter's apartment, Lynn was surprised to find that a meeting with a third person had been arranged for her. It was someone she knew, an American named Dan Arnold.
Lynn was alarmed over the presence of this outsider, as Jim had confided to her previously that Dan Arnold was in the CIA, and that he was a business associate of the Chungs.
As though they had never met, Dan Arnold introduced himself to Lynn explaining that he was an American, and further established his credentials by saying that he was an ex-CIA employee. All this Dan Arnold conveyed in somber tones to emphasize his importance and credibility.
Lynn went along with Dan Arnold’s act, pretending herself that this was their first meeting.
Dan Arnold explained to Lynn, in even tones, that everything would be all right, and that “things were being done, including the possibility of a helicopter rescue” to get her husband and Hin Chew out of Brunei.
Lynn was already unsettled by the police raid of the night before.
But now, Dan Arnold, the CIA, a helicopter rescue—and why?
Professional Reviews
C. V. Devan Nair, former President of Singapore
It took me two and a half evenings to complete your un-put-downable book. It does speak volumes for you and John....the characters you depict became three-dimensional. A moving memoir that only a woman could have written, it is a unique contribution to the appreciation of a life in Singapore. Thank you for having written it.
Review from The Book Reader Fall/Winter 2002-2003 Edition
ESCAPE FROM PARADISE. By John & May Chu Harding. IDK Press, paper, $19.95. From Third World to First. "Each piece of jewelry had a story." And this story, of the underside of paradise, has stories within stories as a woman manages to break free from a web of wealth and power in the dictatorship of Singapore and escape to America where "the word 'freedom' takes on a special meaning." The web of power comes from the potent Tiger Balm family in Singapore, and from other power centers in Asia, and this is May Chu's retreat from her arranged marriage. She comes up against the Singaporean legal system- which may be legal but its system has a lot of hidden agendas. May Chu is extremely knowledgeable about the interconnections, the businesses, the liquid assets, the hopes and dreams of the wealthy and the powerful. Along the way are the smiling aspects of life: the power of a nagging wife, plastic wrappers for comic books, her meeting with John (a very funny session devoted to questions and answers), getting the kids into school where they can learn a fluent English. "Chinese believe that each of us is born with a certain amount of luck, an exact quantity, something like money in the bank, and like money, it can be used up." Americans have a saying: luck is a lady. And this lady and her subsequent husband have written a somber, very human tale of a woman's remarkable journey. Candor, wisdom and hope. And luck.
Francis T. Seow former Solicitor General of Singapore
Your autobiography, as I had intimated, is well penned, and what is more it has all the ingredients of a successful soap opera, including the storied idiosyncrasies of the Aws, the intrigues and the grossièreté of the parvenu Chungs.
Its other fascination lies in the fact that it occurred in the main in an allegedly squeaky-clean state with hypocritical values. It out-Dallas Dallas, save that it is grounded in historical truth and experience.
The States could be a major market but it is not easy to crack it because of its insularity. As I see it, your book is Asean-centric and Singapore, in particular.
Your readers, in my view, lie in that direction, and which by virtue of its contents will have the greater impact. Even so, your book deserves to be widely read, especially by Singaporeans, many of whom, I daresay, are still ignorant of or are mesmerized by the glitter of Lee's paradise.
No one, however, has written so well of the other side of paradise. Your observations on the Singaporean ethos, the educational system, among others, are insightful emanating as they do from the perspective of an ordinary Singaporean and a mother. Your hands-on experience with the legal and judicial system is revealing and represents the tip of a nasty iceberg.
The Hongkong-based Perc and the Geneva-based World Economic Forum would do well to take note and investigate more closely the judicial system instead of only surveying top foreign CEOs for their yearly assessments.
Robert Burns' first daughter was Elizabeth. Her story and the five descendants Scottish lives are recorded here with the Bard's message today as ever in need. Al Quida listen: Then let us pray that come it may, As come it will for a' that. That Sense
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