Journal of Federal Capital

First published in 1983, Peet's book proved a bestseller and is still sought after by collectors long after the original print run had been exhausted. A Journal in the Federal Capital assembles a discerning selection of articles - personally handpicked by Peet himself - originally written when he was assigned as the Straits Times' Kuala Lumpur correspondent in the early 1930s. These articles first appeared under the eponymous weekly column which Peet maintained throughout his four-year sojourn in Kuala Lumpur.

Travelling the length and breadth of Malaya, Peet's incisive accounts of places and people are no less polished than the more widely read ones by officials such as Sir Frank Swettenham or Sir Hugh Clifford. To savour Peet's authentic impressions of 1930s Malaya, the intrepid reader need look no further than this engagingly lyrical account of pre-war Malayan life and places in all its brilliant hues.