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Town planning and building in early colonial Singapore, 1819-1839 : Sir Stamford Raffles and the collaborative development of a colonial port city
Author
Liew, Clement
Supervisor
Blackburn, Kevin
Abstract
The dominant discourse on Singapore’s urban heritage attributes the development of the island’s colonial urban landscape to the astute planning and exertions of one man, Sir Stamford Raffles. It also contends that this colonial urban construct was planned for ethnic segregation which the colonial masters used as a means of political domination and control, and therefore, was characterized by contestations and tensions that arose out of the cultural contact encountered within the colonial urban terrain. Though fascinating, it is still necessary for this discourse to be developed further to explain how this nineteenth century colonial port town grew into primacy despite mitigating circumstances that threatened to deconstruct more than to build. It is in accounting for this phenomenon that the true nature of the colonial city can be better appreciated.
This dissertation will explain how the colonial township was built on the collaborative political relationship between the colonizers and the colonists, without assuming that all documented plans became reality. Beginning with Raffles’ town arrangements from 1819 to 1823, it will be shown how a port town with a colonial administration lacking in resources and political support managed to develop to an advanced state through the collaborative forces inherent in the immigrant communities domiciled on the island. Of course, resistance and conflict were also a part of the colonial condition that required negotiation and accommodation. Raffles’ 1822-23 Town Plan became a platform whereby this dialectical relationship was played out. It is only at this point that one realizes Raffles’ town plan was also a tool to achieve his political vision and objective to restore British political power and control over a settlement that was left to develop freely on its own for several years while the imperial powers in Europe worked out the sovereign status of Singapore. It was during this period that an unplanned frontier town arose which eroded British de facto authority. The introduction of a new town arrangement gave Raffles the perfect opportunity to address this political “mess”. It paved the way for the introduction of permanent landownership, the application of land taxes and the appointment of communal elites into the formal apparatus of the colonial hierarchy, all of which required implicit acknowledgement of British authority over the settlement. This was the hallmark of Raffles’ Imperialism Par Excellence, an urban landscape and arrangement built upon collaborative colonialism which espoused the vision of a first rate colonial port town that exemplified the liberality of Free Trade.
As such, specifics of the town’s layout and the much celebrated ethnic taxonomy were not unchangeable aspects in the scheme of things. The succeeding Residencies after Raffles’ departure were therefore able to retain the essence of Raffles’ colonial township although salient aspects of his arrangements were altered for pragmatic reasons.
This dissertation will explain how the colonial township was built on the collaborative political relationship between the colonizers and the colonists, without assuming that all documented plans became reality. Beginning with Raffles’ town arrangements from 1819 to 1823, it will be shown how a port town with a colonial administration lacking in resources and political support managed to develop to an advanced state through the collaborative forces inherent in the immigrant communities domiciled on the island. Of course, resistance and conflict were also a part of the colonial condition that required negotiation and accommodation. Raffles’ 1822-23 Town Plan became a platform whereby this dialectical relationship was played out. It is only at this point that one realizes Raffles’ town plan was also a tool to achieve his political vision and objective to restore British political power and control over a settlement that was left to develop freely on its own for several years while the imperial powers in Europe worked out the sovereign status of Singapore. It was during this period that an unplanned frontier town arose which eroded British de facto authority. The introduction of a new town arrangement gave Raffles the perfect opportunity to address this political “mess”. It paved the way for the introduction of permanent landownership, the application of land taxes and the appointment of communal elites into the formal apparatus of the colonial hierarchy, all of which required implicit acknowledgement of British authority over the settlement. This was the hallmark of Raffles’ Imperialism Par Excellence, an urban landscape and arrangement built upon collaborative colonialism which espoused the vision of a first rate colonial port town that exemplified the liberality of Free Trade.
As such, specifics of the town’s layout and the much celebrated ethnic taxonomy were not unchangeable aspects in the scheme of things. The succeeding Residencies after Raffles’ departure were therefore able to retain the essence of Raffles’ colonial township although salient aspects of his arrangements were altered for pragmatic reasons.
Date Issued
2010
Call Number
HT169.S55 Lie
Date Submitted
2010