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Singapore Raffles' Dream
Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, the lieutenant governor of
Bencoolen in 1818, vigorously opposed his government's
plan to
abandon control of the China trade to the Dutch. Raffles,
who had
started his career as a clerk for the British East India
Company in
London, was promoted at the age of twenty-three to
assistant
secretary of the newly formed government in Penang in
1805. A
serious student of the history and culture of the region
and fluent
in Malay, Raffles served as governor general of Java
(1811-16). In
1818 Raffles sailed from Bencoolen to India, where he
convinced
Governor General Lord Hastings of the need for a British
post on
the southern end of the Strait of Malacca. Lord Hastings
authorized
Raffles to secure such a post for the British East India
Company,
provided that it did not antagonize the Dutch. Arriving in
Penang,
Raffles found Governor General James Bannerman unwilling
to
cooperate. When he learned that the Dutch had occupied
Riau and
were claiming that all territories of the sultan of Johore
were
within their sphere of influence, Raffles dispatched
Colonel
William Farquhar, an old friend and Malayan expert, to
survey the
Carimon Islands (modern Karimun Islands near Riau).
Disregarding
Bannerman's orders to him to await further instructions
from
Calcutta, Raffles slipped out of Penang the following
night aboard
a private trading ship and caught up with Farquhar.
Raffles knew of
Singapore Island from his study of Malay texts and
determined to go
there.
On January 28, 1819, Raffles and Farquhar anchored near
the
mouth of the Singapore River. The following day the two
men went
ashore to meet Temenggong Abdu'r Rahman, who granted
provisional
permission for the British East India Company to establish
a
trading post on the island, subject to the approval of
Hussein.
Raffles, noting the protected harbor, the abundance of
drinking
water, and the absence of the Dutch, began immediately to
unload
troops, clear the land on the northeast side of the river,
set up
tents, and hoist the British flag. Meanwhile, the
temenggong
sent to Riau for Hussein, who arrived within a few days.
Acknowledging Hussein as the rightful sultan of Johore, on
February
6 Raffles signed a treaty with him and the
temenggong
confirming the right of the British East India Company to
establish
a trading post in return for an annual payment (in Spanish
dollars,
the common currency of the region at the time) of Sp$5,000
to
Hussein and Sp$3,000 to the temenggong. Raffles
then
departed for Bencoolen, leaving Farquhar in charge, with
instructions to clear the land, construct a simple
fortification,
and inform all passing ships that there were no duties on
trade at
the new settlement.
The immediate reaction to Raffles' new venture was
mixed.
Officials of the British East India Company in London
feared that
their negotiations with the Dutch would be upset by
Raffles'
action. The Dutch were furious because they considered
Singapore
within their sphere of influence. Although they could
easily have
overcome Farquhar's tiny force, the Dutch did not attack
the small
settlement because the angry Bannerman assured them that
the
British officials in Calcutta would disavow the whole
scheme. In
Calcutta, meanwhile, both the commercial community and the
Calcutta Journal welcomed the news and urged full
government
support for the undertaking. Lord Hastings ordered the
unhappy
Bannerman to provide Farquhar with troops and money.
Britains
foreign minister Lord Castlereagh, reluctant to relinquish
to the
Dutch "all the military and naval keys of the Strait of
Malacca,"
had the question of Singapore added to the list of topics
to be
negotiated with the Dutch, thus buying time for the new
settlement.
The opportunity to sell supplies at high prices to the
new
settlement quickly attracted many Malacca traders to the
island.
Word of Singapore's free trade policy also spread
southeastward
through the archipelago, and within six weeks more than
100
Indonesian interisland craft were anchored in the harbor,
as well
as one Siamese and two European ships. Raffles returned in
late May
to find that the population of the settlement had grown to
nearly
5,000, including Malays, Chinese, Bugis, Arabs, Indians,
and
Europeans. During his four-week stay, he drew up a plan
for the
town and signed another agreement with Hussein and the
temenggong establishing the boundaries of the
settlement. He
wrote to a friend that Singapore "is by far the most
important
station in the East; and, as far as naval superiority and
commercial interests are concerned, of much higher value
than whole
continents of territory."
Data as of December 1989
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