Jan–Mar 2019

Vol. 14 Issue 04 2019 JAN–MAR 18 / Dare to Drive 26 / Modern Malayan Home 32 / Chetty Melaka Kitchen 36 / Communist Hitman 50 / Dancers and Boxers p. 2 biblioasia VOLUME JAN Welcome to the first issue of BiblioAsia for 2019. This year we mark a major turning point in 14 MAR ISSUE 04 2019 Director’s Singapore’s history, the 200th anniversary of the founding of a British trading post on the CONTENTS island – a date generally accepted as the beginnings of modern Singapore. Note It is common knowledge that Stamford Raffles and his deputy William Farquhar landed FEATURE on Singapore on 28 January 1819 and later negotiated with the Temenggong to set up Looking Back a settlement on the island. Most history books highlight Raffles’ role in the subsequent 02 at 700 Years of development of Singapore into a flourishing port and gloss over Farquhar’s contributions. 10 Singapore Nadia Wright attempts to set the record straight in this issue’s cover story. Even so, Singapore’s history did not begin with Raffles’ arrival in 1819: it goes back some 500 years earlier. Tan Tai Yong provides a brief history of Singapore since the 14th Farquhar& century when Temasek – as the island was known then – was already a thriving regional maritime hub. In April 1907, two gutsy women, Mrs G.M. Dare and her friend Miss Hardman, set out Raffles on a road trip across the Malay Peninsula in a two-seater automobile. Their adventures – The Untold Story from Penang to Singapore – were published in The Straits Times over three days in June 1907. An abridged version of the trip is featured in this issue. In another essay about intrepid women, Chantal Sajan remembers her grandaunt, a no-nonsense Chetty Melaka matriarch who perfected the skill of pegang tangan (“touch of hand”) in her cooking. In the early 20th century, access to gas, electricity and running water led to a prolifera- tion of modern home appliances that revolutionised housework for busy wives and mothers. Advertisements featuring such gadgets were targeted mainly at the fairer sex, as Georgina Wong tells us. The Modern Iron and steel bridges were similarly hailed as marvels of technology when they were 26 Malayan Home first erected in Singapore. Lim Tin Seng traces the origins of nine iconic bridges that have become landmarks along the Singapore River. Singapore’s diminutive size belies its rich history. Between 1920 and 1940, the city Life Lessons in was a favoured pit stop for foreign entertainers and boxers who appeared at the Victoria 32 a Chetty Melaka Theatre and Happy World, as Paul French discovered. Ronnie Tan and Goh Yu Mei reveal Kitchen an unsavoury side to Singapore history in their account of a communist cadre who was responsible for a string of grisly murders here in the 1950s. We also feature the National Library’s collections in articles on the early Malay art Ms Tan Huism scene, the Legal Deposit Collection and a recent donation of rare materials by the Singapore Mrs Dare and Director Chin Kang Huay Kuan. Her Magnificent National Library On behalf of the National Library, we would like to wish everyone a fabulous start to 2019! 18 Driving Machine Editorial & Production Managing Editor Contributors Ronnie Tan Please direct all correspondence to On the cover Francis Dorai Chantal Sajan Tan Tai Yong National Library Board An illustration depicting the profiles of Goh Yu Mei Zoe Yeo 100 Victoria Street #14-01 William Farquhar (left) and Stamford Raffles Iron Spearhead: Bridging History: Singapore Stopover: Editor Georgina Wong National Library Building (right). Cover design by Oxygen Studio The Story of a Passageways The Entertainment Circuit Veronica Chee Designs Pte Ltd. 36 42 50 Jessie Yak Design and Print Singapore 188064 Communist Hitman Across Water 1920–1940 Oxygen Studio Email: [email protected] Editorial Support Lim Tin Seng Designs Pte Ltd Website: www.nlb.gov.sg Masamah Ahmad Nadia Arianna Ramli Stephanie Pee Nadia Wright Jocelyn Lau Paul French NL NOTES All rights reserved. National Library Board, Singapore, 2019. BiblioAsia is a free quarterly publication produced by the National ISSN 0219-8126 (print) Library Board. It features articles on the history, culture and heritage ISSN 1793-9968 (online) of Singapore within the larger Asian context, and has a strong focus The views of writers and contributors do not on the collections and services of the National Library. BiblioAsia is reflect the views of the Publisher. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by distributed to local and international libraries, academic institutions, any means without prior written permission from the Publisher and copyright owner(s). Creative Collectives: Singapore’s Chin When There government ministries and agencies, as well as members of the public. www.nlb.gov.sg/biblioasia/ Abdul Ghani Hamid & Kang Heritage Were Farms The online edition can be accessed with the QR code on the right. Whilst reasonable care has been taken to ensure 56 60 62 the accuracy of the information in this publication, His Comtemporaries the Publisher accepts no legal liabilities whatsoever for the contents of this magazine. BIBLIOASIA JAN - MAR 2019 VOL. 14 ISSUE 04 FEATURE In 1830, William Farquhar (1774–1839) wrote to The Asiatic Journal explaining Farquhar why he was due “at least a large share” iof the credit in forming Singapore.1 Yet, & it is Stamford Raffles (1781–1826) alone who is hailed as the founder of Singapore. This notion, propounded by his biographers, has been reinforced by constant repetition, official acceptance and the omnipresence of Raffles’ name in Singapore. In contrast, Farquhar’s pivotal role in the events leading up to the founding of the British settlement in Singapore in (Above) Colonel William Farquhar, c. 1830. Image source: Wikimedia Commons. February 1819 and during its nascent Raffles years has been vastly underrated. To (Above right) A portrait of Sir Stamford Raffles presented by his nephew, W.C. Raffles Flint, to London’s National Gallery Portrait Gallery in 1859. Image source: Wikimedia Commons. add insult to injury, Farquhar has been mocked, and his character and accom- The Untold Story plishments belittled over the years. ing School and paved the way for his recently included in the history curriculum To understand the origins of this employment at India House, while his of Singapore schools, the Raffles myth The founding of Singapore in 1819 and aberration in Singapore’s history, we later career and status were propelled has prevailed. A group of students who its early development have traditionally must turn to the biographies of Raffles. by his patron, Lord Minto, the Governor- re-assessed the roles of Raffles and Far- The first, The Life of Sir Stamford Raffles, General of Bengal. However, Boulger’s quhar in 2007 could not have expressed been attributed to Sir Stamford Raffles. written by Demetrius Boulger in 1897, “facts” have become part of the myth it better, concluding that Raffles was Nadia Wright claims that his role has been during the heyday of the British Empire, surrounding Raffles and helped create “the real founder of Singapore as all the exaggerated at the expense of another. would establish the trend of glorifying an enduring fascination with the man. history textbooks say so”, and because Raffles and disparaging Farquhar.2 Boulger was scathingly dismissive of any he had a statue erected in his honour role for Farquhar, declaring that Raffles and an MRT station named after him The First Biography on Raffles was the sole founder of Singapore and whereas Farquhar had nothing.5 Boulger portrayed Raffles as a hero who wholly responsible for its development.3 Indeed, landmarks in Singapore had risen from poverty, who was forced Such views were accepted and repeated such as Farquhar Street, Mount Far- to leave school prematurely to support without question by subsequent biog- quhar and Farquhar’s Strait have all his mother and sisters, and who rose raphers. disappeared.6 Singapore’s first and only to fame solely by his own efforts. None Farquhar’s role in Singapore has Commandant and Resident suffered the of this is true. been defended in the past by eminent converse of memorialisation: the “phe- Raffles’ father, Captain Benjamin historians such as John Bastin, Mary nomenon of forgetting”,7 a phrase coined Raffles, was a commander of vessels Turnbull and Ernest Chew. Bastin wrote by the 20th-century French philosopher until the late 1790s, and lived until that Singapore’s early success “must be Paul Ricoeur. 1811. When Raffles left school around attributed generally to [Farquhar’s] fos- 1795, some 16 years earlier, his father tering care and benevolent administra- Farquhar’s Accomplishments was still living with the family. Raffles tion”. Mary Turnbull noted that Farquhar in Malacca was privileged to have remained at a had nurtured the settlement through From as early as the 17th century, private school until he was 14 (most its precarious early years, while Ernest European trading companies competed children then would have left school by Chew argued that Farquhar had been for trade in the region. By the early 1800s, age 11) and to have obtained a highly neglected in the founding narratives of the British had secured trading posts at sought after position as an extra clerk Singapore, contending that Farquhar had Penang and Bencoolen (Bengkulu) while at East India House. been “left behind” by Raffles to run the the Dutch ruled Malacca, the Maluku Raffles owed much to the financial settlement and subsequently also “left islands and Java. Dr Nadia Wright, a retired teacher and now active historian, lives in 4 Melbourne. She specialises in the colonial history of Singapore and support and patronage of his wealthy behind” in history.

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