A Walking Tour of Colonial Downtown Singapore

In the lobby of my hotel in Singapore, there were a number of brochures. There was a brochure for the zoo, one for the Night Safari, and there was also one for The Original Singapore Walks. I thought it would be interesting so I joined the one on Monday, “The Time of Empire.” I met the guide and what was apparently the largest group they have ever had for a tour at one of the MRT stations. Off we went for a two hour tour of some of the colonial structures of Singapore. Unfortunately, as Singapore is one of those cities that seems bent on modernizing at the expense of history, there are precious few old buildings left standing in the downtown area. Unsurprisingly, these are churches and hotels, the two sorts of things that keep being used and have a loud protest against being taken down.

We started at St. Andrew's Cathedral, and Anglican church with a Scottish name, owing to the Anglican church being the dominant religious force of colonialism in Singapore, but Scottish donors having provided much of the funding for the construction of the church. It was all done at the behest of Sir Stamford Raffles (Incidentally, what kind of a name is that, anyway?), rebel, visionary, and colonial con artist. He worked for the British East Indies Company. He was sent out to find and set up a new port to bring goods out of the south Pacific and send it on to Europe. He was specifically told not to go to Singapore. He could go anywhere, but not Singapore. So, he went to Singapore. What a rebel! He did this because there was a disgruntled fellow there who had been shafted out of being king in the area. His father (the king) had sent him north to get married, but the father had had the temerity to die while the son was off doing his duty. The second son, johnny on the spot that he was, took over. And the Dutch East Indies Company was on hand to tell the second son that they would support him in being king, but only if the second son would allow them to have a monopoly over the area and be able to do business. The second son thought for a good two or three seconds before signing on the dotted line and the rightful successor, the first son, the newly married son, was left gnashing his teeth in the Singapore area. Along came Stamford Raffles with an offer he couldn't refuse. Give the British East Indies Company access to Singapore and the port (which was apparently perfect due to its being protected from almost all natural disasters), and they would support the son in his claim to the throne. And he would certainly be allowed to be king in the Singapore area. (I have been reading a lot of the colonial histories of these countries down here in museums and such. It's hard to believe how underhanded, devious, dishonest, and unethical colonial countries were in their dealings with native populations in these pacific nations. And the hubris involved in thinking they were in the right to behave that way is equally stunning.) Well, the Dutch East Indies Company people were rather dismayed by this arrangement and sent an angrily worded letter to the British East Indies Company, who had expressly forbidden our man Raffles against going to Singapore to set up the port, about the situation. The British East Indies people, based in India, sent the letter to Britain, sent a reprimand to Raffles, and then let it all be handled in diplomatic circles. As there were no phones or computers, and the Pony Express only operated on land, the communications had to go via the sea, which took months. By the time people got around to making settlements, Raffles the rascal had had the brilliant idea to make the new port at Singapore tax-free. Nobody had to pay taxes to use the port. I assume there were other fees involved, but the government got nothing out of the deal. Naturally, this encouraged everyone to want to use the Singapore port, and the port enjoyed a meteoric rise in importance in the region. By the time Raffles got his reprimands, there was no turning back and the British weren't about to give it up. So the Brits and the Dutch boys in the drawing rooms back in Europe settled the matter by drawing a line that roughly delineates the division between Malaysia and Indonesia. North of the line was given to the British, and south of the line was given to the Dutch. (Hubris! Hubris, I tell you.) And Stamford Raffles became famous. His name is everywhere in Singapore. It's on buildings, roads, bridges and probably an animal or two. As our guide told us, if one were to throw a rock, you'd probably nail at least one thing with the name of Raffles on it.

We learned all of this in the first church we visited. The stained glass windows you see here have Raffles coat-of-arms in the middle pain, as well the coats-of-arms of two other prominent people who played a part in the formation of Singapore. (But I forget who they were.)

Here is a table with two big candles on it. When war broke out in the Pacific, the British sent a grand total of two warships to patrol and defend the entire Pacific theater. (It could be argued actually that Britain sent one and a half. One of the warships had been commissioned during World War I and was thus inadequate to the demands of naval warfare in the Second World War.) Both were sunk and the candles memorialise the loss of the two ships.

We moved on to the Supreme Court of Singapore, the place where if you are caught with drugs, you have your last chance to argue your point before they tell you are going to be hung by the neck until you are dead.  (If you are going to try and bring drugs to Singapore, you should also know that you are guilty until proven innocent, in this one case only, so make sure you have an innocent way about you.)  I wish we would have a law like that in Canada. On the way to the Supreme Court, we saw this ugly building. Fitting place for crooks, I mean politicians, to house the government. While inside the Supreme Court, we weren't allowed to take photos, so I can't show the amazing view of downtown that is given from the vantage point of the almost top floor. But it was amazing, and you can see it too, if you visit Singapore and put on some nice-ish clothes.

Then we headed to the Armenian Church. There were only about 100 Armenian people who came to Singapore (currently there are only about 85, but only 5 are not there on work visas), but the first thing they do when they get to a place is to set up a church and a school. Because there weren't many Armenians, they only had funds to put up one, and they chose a church. And I guess some newspaper editor wrote an editorial ripping into the European community as the Chinese donated most of the funds necessary to finish the construction of the church. One of the Armenian patrons is reputed to have been visiting a cemetery that was being removed (a regular occurrence in a place like Singapore with a population that keeps growing, but land does not). He noticed the gravestones of many people who had had a hand in the formation of Singapore, just lying about. (Nobody collected the leftover gravestones, only the bodies.) He felt it wasn't proper, so he gathered some of them up and had them placed on the grounds of the Armenian church in what is called the Garden of Remembrance.

Then it was on the Church grounds of Chijmes. Nope, it's not a typo. Chij is an acronym for (Something) of the Holy Infant Jesus. It used to be a church, orphanage, and school. There were some five or six schools at one time in the general vicinity, but with it being downtown and all, the congestion at home time was crazy. So Singapore relocated all the schools and tore most of the schools down for new buildings. But the people at Chijmes spoke a language the government of Singapore understood, money. They put together a business plan to have the area be preserved, and businesses be able to use the building as well. It was accepted and now it's a trendy nightclub/restaurant area. Savvy sisters!

Finally, it was on to Raffles Hotel, the poshest hotel in town, with a nice little museum housing photos and old letters and other memorabilia about the hotel. The hotel is also the birthplace of the Singapore Sling, and for a mere 30 dollars, you can have one there, too. But if you don't ask the bartender to make it personally, it apparently comes out of a bottle and it tastes like crap. I would think that if I was going to be paying 30 dollars for a drink, I could be kind of expecting that it would be done properly. If you ask the bartender, he'll even give you the recipe. Or you can go to another bar, where the Sling wasn't invented, and have one for 5 or 6 dollars. If I were a drinker, I don't think I would feel the need to shell out those kind of bucks for a drink. But that's me.

And with that we were set free and sent off to entertain ourselves. The tour was over. I was very impressed. The guide was very knowledgeable and entertaining. I highly recommend the tours as a great way to learn about the city/state of Singapore. I wish I had had time to do more another of their walks. Next visit, I guess.