The Lounge Chair Interview: 10 Questions with Stella Kon

By Desmond Kon Zhicheng-Mingdé

Let’s get down to brass tacks. Why do you write?

It’s what I want to do more than anything else. At this time of my life, I want to use up all that I’ve got left – in this joyous task of creating new work.

Tell us about your most recent book or writing project. What were you trying to say or achieve with it?

Current project – a musical about Dr Lim Boon Keng.

He was a man who gave his whole life to one ideal (to lift up the people of Singapore through education) and he ended his life in ignominy, disrepute, poverty. When I began this project 25 years ago I wanted to help rehabilitate him – bring him out from the cloud he had fallen under. This rehabilitation has happened since – beginning with Lee Kuan Yew’s tribute to him as an initiator of bilingualism.

I want to reflect what it means – to fight to the death for an ideal – and fail. I want to say that the most important thing is to do the task God gives you with integrity and courage – whether or not your efforts are rewarded with success, fame and glory…