Raffles' Landing Site

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

               As the sun shone high in the early afternoon, our group happily embarked on our heritage trail across the civic district. Our first stop, the Raffles’ landing site, is located at Boat Quay. The tall, white and prominent statue of Sir Stamford Raffles was erected next to the Singapore River, with many tall skyscrapers serving as a backdrop. Beautiful, isn’t it?

Although my group didn’t “find” Singapore, the discovery of the Raffles’ statue was nevertheless, a good find too. Because of that, we decided to mimic his pose as a mark of our fruitful discovery of Raffles’ statue. J

5 "founders" of Sir Stamford Raffles' Statue! Haha! Just kidding :)

The Sir Stamford Raffles’ statue, sculpted by Thomas Woolner, was originally installed on Jubilee Day on 27 June 1887 at Padang before being relocated to the present site during the Centenary Celebrations on 6 February 1919. It was then removed in 1943 during the Japanese Occupation and reinstalled at the same location in 1946. The statue is strategically placed within the civic district to perhaps, remind us of how Singapore would not have been what it is today if Raffles had not “found” us back in 1819. It is also significant that the statue portrays Raffles standing proud, tall and looking far-ahead. It exudes an aura of confidence and suggests how Raffles possessed the foresight of establishing a port in Singapore.

Looking at this statue, it made our group ponder about the significance of this statue towards our nation’s history. The founding of Singapore was due to a complex relationship between Raffles, William Farquhar and the local Malay Government at that point of time. By having only a statue of Raffles, this results in the future generations only knowing a part of the story. In addition, we realised that while we may have been independent from the British from sometime, this does not mean they have not left a lasting impact on our small nation. When we first gained independence, we needed a backing. It is a way to tell the world that we were a nation to be reckoned with. Our connection, as what this statue does, helps to make people remember our roots - the fact that we used to be part of the Great British Empire. Yet, on the hindsight, this may serve as a detriment, making us seem nothing more than just an extension of the British influence in the South East Asia region.

Sad to say, our group members did not manage to mimic Raffles’ pose successfully, as you can see in the picture. It probably looks more comical than giving our blog readers that intended aura of confidence and our “foresight” (in using maps to locate his statue). On a brighter note, at least we have tried!