Thursday, January 25, 2007

Who Really 'Founded' Singapore

Who really founded Singapore? Was it Sir Stamford Raffles? Some say it was William Farquhar, others say it was John Crawfurd.
In my opinion, Sit Stamford Raffles was the true founder of Singapore. Sure, William Farquhar and John Crawfurd did contribute to what Singapore was today. After all, it was William Farquhar that was in charge of the settlement after Raffles left for Bencoolen and had the difficult job for starting up the new settlement. It was John Crawfurd that signed that treaty and made Singapore a British Colony.
But we have to consider this. If Raffles had not wanted to set up a trading settlement in Singapore. Would William Farquhar have been put in charged of starting up the settlement. Would John Crawfurd sign that treaty that made Singapore a British colony if the Dutch still had control over it.
Sir Stamford Raffles was the one who had the ambition to set up a trading settlement near the Straits of Melaka. It was he that spotted Singapore and thought of it as an ideal place for the settlement. It was he that made the decision of recognising Tengku Hussein as the real Sultan of Singapore. It was him that decided to sign that treaty that allowed the British to build a settlement in Singapore.
True, the Dutch was angry at Raffles and protested strongly agaisnt the trading settlement in Singapore. But Raffles fought hard and the Dutch finally allowed the British to set up a trading settlement in Singapore by signing the Anglo-Dutch Treaty.
Sir Stamford Raffles has done many great things for Singapore and I think that we should at least acknowledge him as the true founder of Singapore.

3 comments:

Xinyu said...

I agree with your opinion, as Raffles did all the things that was posted and had made great contributions to Singapore, and should be recognized as the true founder of Singapore.

Xinyu

Crystal said...

hi racheal, i think you are right but you did not really compare about what the three of them had done that made you think that Raffles founded Singapore

Crystal

Rachael! said...

XINYU; Excatly my point.
CRYSTAL; Okay. I'll take that into consideration.