The Showgirl and the Minister

A disappearance and a tangled knot of sex and politics involving a stripper and Singapore’s former chief minister The year is 1966. The world is at a tipping point. The Cold War is at its height; the confrontation between Indonesia and Malaysia is on the brink of a full-blown war. Meanwhile, social mores are being threatened by flower power being in full swing in cities from Chelsea to San Francisco. ’ A must read, beautifully written and illustrated noir thriller, with plot twists that will make your head spin.’ Nick Andors, American graphic novelist, Dream in Blues Somewhere in Kings Cross, Singapore’s former Chief Minister Lim Quee Hock, now the Malaysian High Commissioner to Australia, is missing. Is he dead? Is he hiding from mounting debts? Or is he mixed up in Cold War espionage? And how is a nineteen-year-old stripper, Sabrina Nicholson, involved in this shady business? Written in poetic form by Felix Cheong and wonderfully illustrated by Arif Rafhan, The Showgirl and the Minister is a groundbreaking graphic novel inspired by real-life events.

Arif Rafhan is an award-winning comics artist based in Kuala Lumpur. His work can be seen in more than forty publications in Malaysia, Singapore, and the US. His contribution includes Malaysia’s longest-running humour magazine, Gila-Gila. Arif has been working under Dato Lat for his latest graphic novel, Mat Som 2. His graphic novel Amazing Ash & Superhero Ah Ma 2, his fourth collaboration with writer Melanie Lee, won Best Young Person’s Title at the Singapore Book Awards in 2023. The Showgirl and the Minister is his fourth collaboration with Felix Cheong. Felix Cheong is the author of twenty-five books across different genres, from poetry to short stories, from children’s picture books to young adult fiction. He has also published four graphic novels, including the noir detective Sprawl series in collaboration with Arif Rafhan. Winner of the National Arts Council’s Young Artist Award in 2000, Felix has been invited to writers’ festivals all over the world, including Edinburgh, Austin, Sydney, Brisbane, and Christchurch.