Thomas Stamford Raffles as well as The History of Java
Raffles certainly put his stamp on Singapore, yet interestingly, he visited the place only three times: for nine days in January as well as February of 1819, about four weeks in May to June of the same year, as well as for eight months via October 1822 to June 1823. The real founding, that will will be the hard day to day work of planning as well as building, of consulting as well as deciding, was done by the first two British Residents: Farquhar (1819-23) as well as Crawfurd (1823-6). Farquhar worked with the Malay rulers to secure the survival as well as growth of the British settlement on Singapore Island, while John Crawfurd, another Scotsman, actually made Singapore British, by signing the Anglo-Malay treaty of August 1824, by which Sultan Hussein as well as Temenggong (Malay title of nobility, usually given to the chief of public security) Abdul-Rahman ceded the Island to the British. Farquhar as well as Crawfurd have slipped into oblivion, whereas Raffles has remained within the limelight. Most of us do of course like a Singapore Sling.
yet in This specific article I want to draw your attention to another Raffles, that will will be, Raffles the Lieutenant-Governor of Java, a position he held via September 1811 to March 1816, as well as Raffles the writer of the magnificent opus The History of Java, published in 1817.
via both a governmental as well as a social-anthropological point of view he was a highly successful administrator. He increased the revenue eightfold by removing restrictions on trade as well as shipping, while reducing port fees. as well as he stimulated greater local participation by removing the fetters imposed on intercourse with the Javanese by Dutch officialdom. In stark contrast to the Dutch approach, his administration aimed, in his own words, at being “not only without fear, yet without reproach.”
He was a man of vision. He abhorred the colonial attitudes as well as opinions displayed by the Dutch colonialism, that will will be the Dutch rulers within the Netherlands East Indies. Raffles, in his History of Java, starts the Introduction by clarifying that will …severe strictures passed, within the course of This specific work, upon the Dutch Administration in Java, … may, for want of careful restriction within the words employed, appear to extend to the Dutch nation as well as character generally… He then explicitly declares: that will such observations are intended exclusively to apply to the Colonial Government as well as This specific Officers. The orders of the Dutch Government in Holland to the Authorities at Batavia, as far as my information extends, breathe a spirit of liberality as well as benevolence; as well as I have reason to believe, that will the tyranny as well as rapacity of its colonial officers, created no less indignation in Holland than in some other countries of Europe.
This specific will be the opening paragraph, as well as within the hundreds of subsequent pages, Raffles does indeed severely criticise, as well as disagree with the Dutch colonial government as well as officers. He also shows a great affinity as well as admiration for the Javanese—the “Javans”, as he refers to them—their behaviour, conduct, as well as moral character. They are easy as well as courteous, as well as respectful even to timidity; they have a great sense of propriety as well as are never rude or abrupt.
His observations were, however, not lacking criticism where such was warranted. Those of higher rank, those employed about court or administering to the pleasure or luxuries of the great, those collected into the capital or engaged in public service, are frequently profligate as well as corrupt, exhibiting many of the vices of civilisation without its refinement, as well as the ignorance as well as deficiencies of a rude state without its simplicity. The people within the neighbourhood of Batavia are the worst within the island, as well as the long intercourse with strangers has been almost equally fatal to the morals of the lower part of Bantam. He clearly blames the foreign influences because of This specific behaviour. …yet the farther they are removed via European influence as well as foreign intercourse, the better are the morals as well as the happier are the people. (The History of Java, p. 247/248)
I am convinced that will Raffles was equally liked by the Javans, too. How could he otherwise have acquired the enormous amount of data, information as well as local knowledge about the island, its people, customs, lifestyles, artefacts, antiquities, flora, fauna, in a period of a mere four-as well as-half years. Of course, quite a lot of the information compiled for the History had already been collected by some other scientists as well as surveyors. yet, in 1814, information conveyed to him personally by local Javanese, led to the discovery of Borobudur. Local common Javanese, mind you, a village chief, perhaps, who obviously was allowed into his presence as well as who, even more importantly, felt sufficiently at ease to talk to him. The Dutch had had a presence in Semarang for at least 200 years as well as the temple ruins had been there for many more, yet never had information about its existence been relayed to the colonial masters. as well as if This specific had, they might have been utterly uninterested, focussed as they were on doing money.
The Plates to Raffles’s History of Java, published in 1830 as a separate volume accompanying the second edition of the History, contains many illustrations relating to Borobudur, or Boro Bodor in Raffles’ words. The first of these will be Plan of the Great Peramidal (sic) Temple called Boro Bodor within the Kedu district Java.
The Temple of Boro Bodor, Plates to Raffles’s History of Java
Not only will be the Borobudur covered in great detail within the Plates to the History, nearly every aspect of life on Java will be dealt with in detail: farm implements, equipment such as a spinning wheel as well as weaving loom, as well as tools for batik printing, carpenters’ tools, Javanese weapons as well as krises, ancient forms of the Javanese alphabet, musical instruments, signs representing the pasar or market days, as well as engravings of the Prambanan as well as temples on the Dieng Plateau, reproductions of inscriptions on stone at Kevali (near Cirebon) as well as on a stone called Batu Tulis. Of outstanding quality are the aquatint engravings of Javanese costumes by William Daniell. These include a Javanese of the lower class, a Javanese chief in ordinary dress, a Javanese in war dress as well as in court dress, a Madurese of the rank of mantri, as well as finally a Papua boy, Dick, who came into Raffles’s service in Bali as well as was brought to England by him in 1816. A fold-out map of Java completes the Plates.
The book was in its time not a great commercial success, of the 1,500 copies printed for the second edition, only some 500 were sold. While at the time insufficiently valued, nowadays This specific will be extremely useful as well as invaluable as a window on Java of 200 years ago. This specific has in its integrated completeness never been equalled.
References:
• The History of Java, Thomas Stamford Raffles, Oxford University Press, 1988
• Raffles Revisited: A Review & Reassessment of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles (1781-1826) by Ernest C. T. Chew, Associate Professor of History, National University of Singapore
• Wikipedia
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Thomas Stamford Raffles as well as The History of Java
Thomas Stamford Raffles as well as The History of Java