Thomas Stamford Raffles: Pengkomplot atau Pembaharu?

by Syed Hussein Alatas

Bagaimana mungkin seorang pentadbir penjajah British mencapai status wira dan diangkat namanya sebagai seorang pembaharu dan pejuang kemanusiaan? Ini mungkin dapat difahami jika ia hanya berlaku pada para penulis biografinya, namun agak mengejutkan untuk negara pascapenjajahan seperti Singapura menampilkan imej yang sangat positif pada lelaki ini. Malah Raffles telah ditampilkan oleh negara Singapura yang merdeka sebagai seorang wira. Ini merupakan salah satu contoh yang jarang dilihat dalam sejarah apabila pentadbir penjajah dilihat sebagai ikon kebangsaan, lebih-lebih lagi dalam sebuah dunia di mana kebanyakan negara pacapenjajahan mengambil pendekatan yang sangat kritikal terhadap penjajahan dan sosok penjajah yang pernah memerintah.

Syed Farid Alatas
Profesor,
Jabatan Sosiologi
National University of Singapore

Genres: History, Politics

Paperback

First published January 1, 1971

About the author

Syed Hussein Alatas (September 17, 1928 – January 23, 2007) was a Malaysian academician, sociologist, founder of social science organizations, and former politician. He was once Vice-Chancellor of the University of Malaya in the 1980s, and formed the Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia (Gerakan). Syed Hussein wrote several books on corruption, multi-racialism, imperialism, and intellectual captivity as part of the colonial, and post colonial, project, the most famous being The Myth of the Lazy Native.

Reviews

[Najibah Bakar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Buku ini kali pertama terbit pada 1971 dan diberikan nafas baharu dengan Pengenalan yang ditulis oleh Dr Farid Alatas sempena 200 tahun ‘pembukaan’ Singapura pada 2019.

Dalam buku ini, Prof. Syed Hussein Alatas mengemukakan hujah yang kemas untuk mencabar kedudukan Raffles yang diangkat sebagai pembaharu dan pengasas Singapura. Malah ada yang menganggap sejarah sahih Singapura patut dimulakan dengan kedatangan Raffles pada 1819, yang secara automatik tentunya menafikan sejarah raja-raja Melayu di Singapura.

Alatas mempersoalkan, layakkah Raffles menerima gelaran pembaharu/pengasas Singapura dan diangkat sebagai humanis seperti yang disebutkan oleh para penulis biografinya John Bastin dan yang lain.

Hujah Prof Alatas dibuat berdasarkan beberapa kejadian semasa Raffles menjawat jawatan Gabenor Jeneral di Jawa. Pertama adalah melalui kejadian Korban Palembang yang mengakibatkan sekumpulan orang Belanda dan puluhan orang Jawa terbunuh. Manakala yang kedua ialah Peristiwa Banjarmasin yang melibatkan penyeludupan pesalah ke daerah yang berada di bawah pentadbiran sahabatnya, Andrew Hare.

Selepas Prof. Alatas merungkaikan semula dengan mantap mengenai kejadian-kejadian dalam lipatan sejarah itu, kita berasa terpanggil untuk menimbang semula sama ada Raffles layak dipanggil seorang humanis atau tidak. Di sebalik manis berita yang sampai tentang Raffles, adakah dia menepati maksud perkataan humanis itu seperti yang disandang oleh para humanis tulen? Jika dia bukan humanis, masih patut berbanggakah kita untuk memahkotakannya sebagai pembuka Singapura?

Selain dua kejadian di atas, Prof Alatas juga menyebut tentang peristiwa di Singapura berkaitan hukuman mati ke atas Syed Zain dan sistem perhambaan yang dipertahankan oleh Raffles secara halus.

Melalui buku ini, kita dapat memahami falsafah politik Raffles dan imperialisme yang dianutinya dengan sepenuh jiwa. Kita juga akan lebih menghargai ajakan Prof Alatas untuk mencermin sejarah bangsa dengan kaca mata, teropong dan mikroskop kita sendiri, bukan dengan menerima bulat-bulat hasil kajian penjajah yang mempunyai niat yang terpesong daripada sangka baik kita.

[ash | songsforafuturepoet · Rating 4 out of 5]

A detailed and critical analysis of the moral character and political decisions of the coloniser Thomas Stamford Raffles, honored and heroized in Singapore, in an effort to address the glorification of the historical figure. Syed Hussein Alatas did this through careful research on historical inaccuracies.

Given how the entire current generation of Singapore grew up being taught only one historical account of the founding of and development of Singapore - verbatim, that Singapore is a fishing village that only started developing after Raffles founded it and led it to economic success - it is important for citizens to reflect on deep-rooted myths, review what we know as given facts, and know that history is not one objective account.

Readings you can pair with:
- Living with Myths in Singapore
- The Art of Charlie Chan Hock

[Syed Asriq · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jika anda membaca Hikayat Abdullah karangan pusaka Abdullah Munsyi, anda akan lihat Stamford Raffles itu dipuji-puji perwatakannya.

Namun setelah anda membaca buku ini, anda akan lihat Raffles yang disanjung di Singapura itu tidaklah mulia orangnya. Barangkali ada terlibat dengan pembunuhan besar-besaran di Palembang, isu kontroversi penculikan di koloni Banjarmasin dan memandang sebelah mata kezaliman yang berlaku dalam kalangan buruh rakyatnya sendiri!

[Haziq Hakimi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great expose on how colonial attitudes persist amongst the colonized up to this day. Very important work esp with regards to the historiography of Raffles and the colonial administration. Must read for all students and scholars interested in decoloniality.

[mellamy · Rating 4 out of 5]

great opener into re-examining the colonial canonisation of raffles

[Bree T]

Read in full for essay research

[Dhevarajan · Rating 4 out of 5]

An early attempt to cast aside the hagiography surrounding Raffles by looking more closely at his deplorable conduct in Java. The book does a good job of investigating the interactions between the Javanese royals and Raffles, and provides a useful foundation for further scholarship on Raffles and European colonialism from indigenous perspectives.

[Nuruddin Azri · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is another profound book by Syed Hussein Alatas published in 1971. In this work, Alatas refutes the argument that Raffles is a lovable, gentle personality or heroic reformer as portrayed by most of the British colonial historians’ works as part of their historical canonisation. This is prominent when Raffles has what the sociology of knowledge (wissensoziologie) calls the “total ideology” concept of imperialism – where it embrace all capitalist transformation dominated by the imperial power covering all major aspect of life.

Here, we can see how in destroying the social institution of weaker societies, the imperialist claimed they were reforming those societies. In compelling people to cultivate cash crops, the imperialist claimed to be encouraging the acquisitive spirit to earn more. In keeping wages down, they claimed to develop prosperity. In abolishing slavery and debt bondage, they introduced unemployment, then cheap, contract labour and slavery in the more rigorous form of debt bondage (which also sounds familiar in the present era).

Plus, Raffles is a “civilisation-monger” (term used by Marx in On Colonialism) – where his talks about reforming native society is part of the imperialist ideology, a justification which could serve the imperialist interest.

According to Alatas, Raffles is not a humanitarian reformer like Tolstoy, Godwin, Cobbet, Cobden and Robert Owen because a real humanitarian reformer is characterised by:

i. Guided by principle of humanity.
ii. Not scorn or degrade other nation, religion and culture.
iii. Concern injustice within his own society, not only towards alien societies.
- Here, Alatas brought the evidence of how Raffles remains silent towards the condition of working class in England between 1750 and 1850 where there is poor exploitation, child-labour as young as 5-year-old, working 12-hours or more per day and adulteration of food.
iv. Not build empire at the cost of other nations.
v. Not spend the best years of his life scheming and intriguing.

[Farid Akram · Rating 4 out of 5]

Buku yang elok untuk dibaca oleh pengagum Raffles, Abdullah Munsyi dan Anglophile.

[elly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a crucial text to read and reflect critically on the role of colonisation and its legacy in Singapore. Undoubtedly, it remains a fascination for Singapore to lord over the colonial ruler that supposedly transformed our native land - the convenient “rags to riches” story. Alatas documentation of Raffles’ political philosophy suggests a simple fact about Raffles’ strong imperialist intent to colonise and civilise nations, European-style. It is brutal and fast, with close to no humanitarian aspect to it. Raffles’ perceptions and opinions of different communities were well-documented in this work as well, further reinforcing the ideas that led to his colonisation of Riau islands, including Singapore. ⁣
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The chapters that uncovered the massacre of Palembang and the Banjarmasin (present day Borneo) affair shed light on the imperialist intent to divide and conquer swiftly, in spreading capitalist ideas to native lands in the East. In the Banjarmasin affair specifically, Raffles appointed his friend Alexander Hare as governor. Under the acclaimed reason of providing labour to local economy, Raffles kidnapped 462 women and criminals to be transported there. In reality, the women had to work as sex slaves for Hare. That was an account that I never learned about the great Sir Stamford Raffles in any of my History classes, up till university 🤔
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In short, this book was a crucial read for me to understand and further reflect on the terrible dangers of imperialism and a white saviour mentality. It stems from many negative stereotypes of native communities in the past, and brutal means to justify a “reformation”. It is definitely a huge price that we have paid, as natives to the land of Singapore. Singapore celebrated 200 years of colonisation just last year, after Raffles arrived in Singapore in 1819. The celebration encapsulates Singapore’s stance towards the man for sure, and the history we learnt of Raffles in schools is myopic and superficial, in my opinion.

Scholars have pointed out the faults in colonisation of education and economies for many years now. In the intro, Farid Alatas urged us all to think about the ‘Rhodes Must Fall’ movement in Cape Town that garnered global attention and led to a wider movement to "decolonise" education across South Africa. Now THAT is worth celebrating. ⁣
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Sadly, this book is only found in the reference section in NLB (not to my surprise~) I got it at the amazing @wardahbooks 🙆🏽‍♀️ This book is well paired with ‘The Myth of the Lazy Native’ by Alatas as well, and ‘Singapore a Modern History’ by Michael D. Barr 📖⁣

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author's 'The Myth of the Lazy Native' is something I've seen cited a couple-few times, though never seen a copy of; like this, it seems a book arguing a thesis that I imagine most everyone I know wouldn't really care to argue with. 'Lazy natives' did not exist, but were in fact a story told to themselves by colonizers to justify the modes of exploitation they arrived at: well, yes. Similarly, this book is arguing that Raffles was in fact not a model of enlightenment but rather a smart colonial administrator neither much better nor much worse than the prejudices of his day, with an unexamined belief in the rightness of British power to which all humanitarian concerns would be quietly held subsidiary when necessary: well, yes.

The more general sections in which Raffles is presented in his own words make this case straightforwardly and capably. The two longer sections--which seem mired in a historiographic argument current when this book was first published in the 70s--cover a land-purchase scandal and the Massacre of Palembang, and get involved in a level of he-said-she-said that don't push me to feel one way or the others about the book's subject. This 2020 edition includes both a preface and an introduction by the author's son, both of which precis and contextualise the argument of the book proper in, respectively, three pages and twenty, and with less graph of what constitutes a prose style than the father held.

[Lim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Too often, we slavishly imbibe grand narratives for which we fail to trace their origins. As a result, the truths we hold and which we deem independent, are in fact not. Our very sense of self comes to be defined not by ourselves, not based on an interrogation of historical forces. Instead, we are created in the image of another. Once in a while, a thinker comes along and cajoles us into facing facts that runs contrary to our entire worldview, our whole upbringing, and if we are open enough, rearranges the components of our cherished truths, injects a dose of humility (that what we thought we’ve always known may be false). This book, through the examination of key events like the massacre of Palembang and Banjarmasin Affair, switches on something in us - the light of doubt regarding a figure we unquestioningly adore and glorify.

[Ernest · Rating 4 out of 5]

Singaporean society's relationship with colonialism remains strange, muddied, even, with its hagiographic treatment of Raffles. Here, one of /the/ defining revisionist essays of its time still holds up well, with a new preface that otherwise leaves the argument to stand for itself. Its well-argued chapters are cogent and succinct, albeit directed at a very historicized profile of Raffles. Arguably 'Raffles' has taken on a far greater signifier in years since the publication of the original edition, living on in disproportionately privileged schools, shopping malls here and overseas, private medical groups. So treat this as one part of the theorising - but what else ought postcoloniality entail? I think the answers lie elsewhere too.

[Maisarah Abdul Kadir · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very happy that this book is republished.

It’s always an interesting read to see how Raffles’ actions, influence, conducts outside of Singapore based on the many notes/letters read in the course of Malaysian/Indonesian history lessons.

This book examines several of his involvements in events such as the Massacre of Palembang, his writings/views on the different communities that lived there (not good), and of course some convenient scrubbings of history which - to this day scholars/readers must be careful not to accept any writing during the colonial period as History - but a careful examination of who and what is written and under what circumstances/context it was written is as important.

[Izzat Isa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Buku yang baik bagi mengupas dengan lebih teliti adakah wajar Raffles dijulang sebagai tokoh reformasi dan humanis seperti yang dilaungkan oleh sarjana Inggeris. Penulis membongkar sudut pandang yang berbeza dan meminta para pembaca untuk meneliti semula pandangan terbabit. Seperkara lagi. Kata pengantar yang diberikan oleh Syed Farid Alatas boleh dikatakan sangat membantu untuk pembaca generasi hari ini memahami kenapa penulisan buku ini amat penting dalam bidang pensejarahan, sosiologi dan legasi warisan untuk kefahaman kita mutakhir ini.

[Sahar Rabbani · Rating 4 out of 5]

i cant believe i put off reading this book for so long. honestly, the title wasnt doing it justice and i felt like it was already obvious he wasnt a reformer lol. but the first and last chapters on his political ideology and philosophy on imperialism were so well written. i finished the book in two sittings and i am
now fighting the urge to do a masters

[mm]

Page 95:
'The political philosophy of Raffles is the ideology of imperialism par excellence. Ethical principles are subordinated to economic and political motives. It employs a respectable vocabulary to express motives which may not otherwise seem dignified.'

A schemer for sure.

[Nur Izzan · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books ever. Syed Hussein was a great "history investigator". To analyze the characters of Stamford Raffles, is best to see from the lens of realist.

[Anna]

Really interesting book. It gave me an alternative perspective to the idolised and sanitised portrayal of Raffles we see in our social studies textbooks.

[Luqman Tarmizi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another classic decolonial text by Syed Hussein Alatas, exposing Stamford Raffles for what he truly is: a racist colonial tool & ultimately a lustful imperialist who only cares about about his own personal gain & the interests of the British empire.