My Reflections

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Who Really 'Found' Singapore??

A founder is a person who finds or establishes. A finding is to discover. I think Raffles could have been the one who founded Singapore because he was the one who discovered Singapore. He also did told the Temengong that he wanted to set up a British trading settlement there. He also did all the discussions on how to start the settlement by recognising Tengku Hussein as the rightful Sultan. On the other hand, Major William Farquhar was in charge of Singapore when Raffles had to leave for Bencoolen. He solved the many problems that Singapore had at first like, food needed, violence and disorder and the hygiene there. He invited many settlers and he managed to maintain law and order in Singapore. He had also transformed Singapore from a quiet fishing village by the Singapore River to a busy town full of new settlers. He also helped in the rise in Singapore's population. Some think that John Crawfurd is the real founder of Singapore because he signed the treaty which made Singapore into British possession. Under the treaty, Singapore was under British possession. After thinking about the possibilities, the question still remains unanswered. Each man had done a part in establishing Singapore to a busy port city then. So, who really founded Singapore??