0:00

Hi everyone, Laszlo Montgomery here. This

0:02

is the China History Podcast. Thanks

0:04

for giving my little CHP overview

0:06

of the history of Singapore a

0:08

chance for a third time. My

0:11

Singaporean Patreon subscribers who

0:14

heard this episode months ago have so far

0:16

given it their tacit approval. I

0:18

hope you're all enjoying the show so far.

0:22

We made it to Singapore's founding last time at

0:24

the end of Part 2. January 30th, 1819, a

0:26

preliminary agreement was signed between Raffles

0:31

and the Temangong Abdulrahman.

0:34

Then a week later another agreement

0:36

was signed between the same parties

0:38

plus the Sultan of Singapore, Hossein

0:40

Shah. That was on February 6th,

0:43

1819. The

0:46

terms were very narrow and it

0:48

was not a permanent settlement and

0:50

no political authority was granted, let

0:52

alone sovereignty. And the

0:54

next day after the signing of this Treaty

0:57

of Singapore, Raffles abruptly departed,

0:59

sailing back to Ben Kulin in

1:01

Sumatra where he was still serving

1:03

as Lieutenant Governor. He

1:06

had chosen to name the place

1:08

Singapura, but for reasons we

1:10

can only guess, the colonial authorities settled

1:13

on Singapore instead. And

1:16

as we saw, Raffles left William Farquhar

1:18

in quite a bind. He

1:20

had to get Singapore up and running and

1:22

do it without any funding from the EIC.

1:26

Other than the primo location at the

1:28

bottom of the Malacca Strait and being

1:30

a free port, which further exacerbated his

1:32

funding dilemma, Farquhar didn't have

1:35

much to work with. There

1:37

were also no natural resources to

1:39

exploit. But the presence of EIC

1:41

armed vessels in the vicinity of

1:43

the port did

1:45

help keep piracy at bay and this

1:47

was always a big plus for any

1:49

merchant sea captain. What

1:52

William Farquhar had in his favor was

1:54

his reputation and the esteem of the

1:56

Malacca merchant community who had come to

1:58

know him during his period. serving there.

2:01

And when Farquhar sent out the call to this

2:04

extraordinary community of merchants from Europe

2:07

and Asia to sail their ships

2:09

down to Singapore and enjoy

2:12

duty-free privileges, they

2:14

came in droves. So many

2:16

came that one could reasonably say

2:19

they helped turn Singapore into

2:21

an overnight sensation. So

2:24

successful had Farquhar been in attracting

2:26

trading vessels to do their business

2:28

in Singapore. The Dutch had

2:31

to take preventative measures to halt the

2:33

exodus. But

2:35

immediately following the signing of this

2:37

agreement between raffles, the Temengong and

2:39

Sultan Hussein, they got cold feet

2:41

and sort of realized how reckless

2:44

this was and how easily it

2:46

could all blow up in their

2:48

face. So they tried to start

2:50

making amends until Farquhar was able to pull

2:52

them away from the edge of the cliff.

2:56

When word reached London and Amsterdam, it

2:59

sent a few shockwaves through the halls

3:01

of power and not just in those

3:03

distant lands. In the Johar-Riau

3:06

Sultanate and their Dutch benefactors, they

3:08

all saw through this whole thing.

3:10

And the displeasure, to put it

3:13

mildly, on the Dutch side, expressed

3:15

to both Lord Hastings and Calcutta

3:18

and to the foreign office in

3:20

London was quite heated. And they

3:22

felt certain for such a bodacious

3:25

act perpetrated by Stamford

3:28

raffles. London would put

3:30

the kibosh on this in no time at all

3:32

and the whole thing would fizzle out as soon

3:34

as it began. The way

3:37

the Dutch saw it, having a

3:39

British outpost right at their doorstep,

3:41

was by all definitions a

3:43

clear and present danger to Dutch

3:45

regional trade hegemony. Something they had

3:47

been enjoying and gotten used to

3:49

almost from the time they started

3:51

sailing these seas. They

3:54

had taken their lumps during the Napoleonic Wars

3:56

but now they were keen to keep the

3:58

sea lanes free. any

4:00

European competitors. They

4:03

declared that this agreement Raffles

4:05

made with the Temengong and

4:07

Hossein Shah was invalid and

4:10

started stamping their feet loudly

4:12

demanding the EIC vacate Singapore

4:14

which after all fell

4:16

under their unofficial sphere

4:18

of influence. There

4:21

was a degree of panic in

4:23

London over what the Dutch might

4:25

do having been provoked like this.

4:27

Yeah they were sure this was

4:29

gonna lead to a diplomatic meltdown

4:31

and possibly even war after so

4:34

recently having signed a peace treaty.

4:38

Despite the panic they had assured the

4:40

Dutch government in Amsterdam that Raffles had

4:42

exceeded his authority and they were gonna

4:44

set this all straight. But

4:46

at the same time even though Singapore

4:48

was outside of Raffles authority they did

4:50

attempt to finesse the Dutch diplomats by

4:53

saying that Raffles authority at

4:55

this small trading post was strictly

4:57

limited to commercial decisions and did

5:00

not extend to any political matters

5:02

and no attempts were being undertaken

5:04

to establish a permanent settlement and

5:06

no one had agreed to such

5:08

a thing. Well that bought some

5:11

time. Again no texting, FaceTime

5:13

or WhatsApp back then. You had to

5:15

write a letter baby, put it in

5:17

an envelope, hand it to someone who

5:20

got that letter delivered by C-mail

5:22

to its destination.

5:25

It always happened with this kind of

5:27

dynamic that stuff happened while information was

5:29

in transit and it had taken till

5:32

August 1819 for the details

5:35

to reach London. We're still

5:37

in the pre-steamship age but

5:39

not for long. The

5:42

British government wrote down their instructions to

5:44

Raffles demanding he retreat from this path

5:46

he had taken. But by

5:48

the time the missive reached the hands

5:50

of Lord Hastings and Calcutta things

5:53

had already gone too far and

5:56

the prospects were looking very rosy

5:58

indeed. After just a short

6:00

time seeing how fast everything was coming

6:02

together. Well, they weren't going to walk

6:04

away from Singapore so easy. Not

6:07

after what they saw unfolding before

6:09

their eyes. Farquhar

6:11

leaned on the Temongong Abdul Rahman and

6:13

was able to convince him to let

6:16

the Sultanate know that he

6:18

had not been coerced. But the

6:20

damage had already been done. This was starting

6:23

to get a bad smell real fast. Dutch

6:26

military assets in the region far

6:28

outnumbered anything the British had there.

6:30

It wouldn't have been a fair fight if

6:33

the Dutch sailed down to Singapore in full

6:35

force with their guns blazing. If Farquhar

6:38

was going to take them on, he

6:40

needed reinforcements. But there were none

6:42

forthcoming. He was on his own,

6:44

hanging on by a thread. He

6:48

reached out to the governor in Penang,

6:50

John Bannerman. Not only did

6:52

he refuse to offer any assistance,

6:54

Bannerman castigated Farquhar and dumped all

6:57

over raffles for exceeding his authority

6:59

in Ben Kulin and risking war

7:01

with the Dutch over such an

7:03

illegal and reckless move. Whether

7:06

Bannerman was looking to extinguish any

7:08

attempts to establish a trading operation

7:11

in Singapore, to rival what he

7:13

had going on up in Penang,

7:15

or if he truly believed this

7:17

was a bad idea, it's hard

7:19

to say. But

7:21

if help was forthcoming, it had to

7:23

come from Penang, which was closer to

7:25

Singapore than Ben Kulin. Bannerman

7:28

insisted Farquhar abandoned this whole thing

7:30

at once, but he was rebuffed.

7:33

Not only Farquhar, but Lord

7:35

Hastings as well. They

7:37

were going to proceed cautiously, but they

7:39

weren't going to back down. Not yet

7:41

anyway. These two men had

7:44

no idea what Singapore's role in the world

7:46

would be in the 21st century, but

7:49

they did have a pretty good idea how

7:51

things could possibly pan out in the coming

7:54

decades and the prospects look

7:56

quite promising indeed. And thanks to the

7:58

total diameter of the world, which

8:01

included instructions, taking too long

8:03

to be transmitted, indecision on

8:05

all sides, and plenty

8:07

of discussion in back rooms. Rather

8:09

than put an abrupt end to this

8:12

British trading post in Singapore, nothing

8:14

happened. And while this

8:17

tense situation was playing out on

8:19

two continents, Farquhar was proceeding as

8:21

fast and furious as possible, not

8:24

only with the Dutch, but within the

8:26

EIC as well. There was a deep

8:28

division on how to proceed or if

8:31

they should proceed at all. All

8:34

the indecision and mixed messages bought

8:37

more time for Farquhar to keep

8:39

moving forward, racing to reach critical

8:41

mass with the development of the

8:44

trading post. In Calcutta, Lord

8:46

Hastings was able to arrange for

8:49

reinforcements to defend Singapore if it

8:51

came to that. All

8:54

of this would be resolved in the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of

8:56

1824, but prior to

8:59

that, a treaty was signed in July 1820

9:01

that was meant to calm the waters and

9:03

allow all sides to step back from the

9:05

brink. This preliminary

9:07

treaty laid the groundwork for a

9:10

more comprehensive agreement concerning what to

9:12

do about Singapore and other

9:15

unresolved regional issues regarding who controlled

9:18

what territories in that part of

9:20

Asia. The game of risk, 137 years before

9:22

the invention of the actual game. Into

9:28

the early 1820s,

9:30

while EIC and British diplomats

9:32

were negotiating with their Dutch

9:34

counterparts, Farquhar was busy

9:36

transforming Singapore and he was

9:38

doing a masterful job. He

9:41

had all those years of experience in this

9:43

part of Asia. He had a network of

9:45

contacts that he was able to call

9:48

on for support in kick-starting this

9:50

new trade entrepot. His

9:53

pitch was that Singapore offered

9:55

merchants the benefit of being the only

9:57

free port in the region as well.

9:59

as the deepest port in these waters.

10:03

Raffles may have been the one to plant the

10:05

flag, but all of

10:07

the earliest heavy lifting and stress

10:10

was left to William Farquhar to deal with.

10:15

You could see what was going on.

10:17

This was a gutsy move by Raffles.

10:19

Whatever smoke and mirrors and illusions Raffles

10:21

was able to create, taking

10:24

advantage of the ambiguity that existed

10:26

following the usurpation of the

10:28

Sultan's throne, he kind of

10:30

kept everyone on their back foot. The

10:33

greatest objection was the obvious one. As

10:35

far as the Dutch saw it, he

10:38

was squatting squarely inside their

10:40

sphere of influence, and all

10:42

things considered, this was arguable,

10:45

but a reasonable person, not a

10:47

local of course, might side

10:49

with the Dutch on this matter. Raffles

10:52

had returned to Singapore on May 31st, 1819, in

10:56

such a short time. Farquhar

10:59

had performed miracles gaining some

11:01

traction and creating something

11:03

out of nothing. Raffles

11:06

used the opportunity to sign another

11:08

agreement with the Temengong and Sultan

11:10

to nail down the boundaries of

11:12

the trading post, and he also

11:14

drew up a plan for segregated

11:16

neighborhoods laid down on top of

11:18

a grid of streets. As

11:21

part of his urban planning scheme, each

11:23

ethnic community would reside in their

11:26

particular neighborhood, and they would each

11:28

have one leader called a capitan

11:30

who would handle law

11:32

and order within their respective communities

11:35

and represent the people in

11:37

matters involving the government administration.

11:39

This organizational model was also

11:42

used with some modifications in Chinatowns

11:44

across the United States. Then

11:47

on June 28th, 1819, Raffles departed again for Ben Coolin

11:52

and wouldn't return until October of 1822. At

11:54

the outset, beginning in

11:57

1819, Farquhar had been had

12:00

a staff consisting of a single

12:02

clerk. He hired a second one

12:04

afterwards, but had to pay the salary out

12:06

of his own pocket. Farquhar,

12:10

his first resident, had pretty much

12:12

created an oasis out of the

12:14

desert, so to speak. It

12:16

had come a heck of a long way since

12:19

Raffles had first left in February, 1819. As

12:22

first resident, Farquhar had begun

12:24

the task of clearing jungles,

12:27

draining swamps, exterminating vermin, and

12:29

dealing with so many other

12:32

practical measures to improve the

12:34

most essential infrastructure.

12:37

And knowing who buttered Singapore's bread,

12:40

there was great attention paid to

12:42

the harbor and port facilities. So

12:45

how did Farquhar raise sufficient enough

12:47

monies to fund the new operation

12:49

on Singapore? Well, even

12:52

though the religious and almost puritanical Raffles

12:54

told him not to do this, Farquhar

12:58

went and sold licenses to control

13:00

the age-old sins of humankind, gambling,

13:03

drugs, booze, and trafficking in

13:05

human beings. This

13:08

proved to be quite lucrative and funded

13:10

many necessary public works. What

13:13

Raffles thought about all this, well, we'll get

13:15

to that in a bit. The

13:18

number one alcoholic beverage around these parts

13:20

was Arak. This is

13:22

a distilled alcoholic drink that gets

13:24

its kick from the fermented sap

13:26

of coconut flowers or sugar cane,

13:28

along with any number of grains.

13:31

It ranges from 66 to 100 proof. And

13:35

that was a popular tipple that many

13:37

folks back then might enjoy at the end

13:39

of a long day. In

13:42

order to transform Singapore into the

13:44

overnight success it became, Farquhar

13:47

had to make a lot of decisions that

13:50

went against the instructions and the

13:52

vision of Stamford Raffles. He

13:54

was the man on the spot on almost a

13:57

daily basis. There were too many urgent decisions that

13:59

he had. had to be made that couldn't wait

14:02

six or eight weeks for an OK from

14:04

Raffles over in Ben Kulin. To

14:06

make things work, Farquhar had

14:09

to stick his neck out and choose

14:11

pragmatism and his own judgment over

14:13

the instructions he was given. And

14:17

in taking the steps he did,

14:19

there's no denial that William Farquhar was

14:21

as much of a co-founder of

14:23

Singapore as Sir Stamford

14:25

Raffles. In

14:28

October 1822, Raffles returned to Singapore. He

14:31

was then 39 years of age. In

14:34

our day, that's still young, at least

14:36

from where your humble narrator is currently

14:38

perched on the Tree of Life. But

14:41

back then, that was middle age, and

14:43

he was planning to retire. So

14:46

this 1822 visit to Singapore was

14:48

his last. He never returned. And

14:50

as you could see, for his

14:52

first two visits to Singapore, he

14:54

hardly stayed there at all. But

14:57

think Raffles would have been pleased with how

15:00

everything was working out. Well,

15:02

he wasn't. First of

15:04

all, selling licenses to engage in

15:07

the kinds of sinful enterprises that

15:09

Farquhar had allowed to thrive in

15:11

Singapore just outraged Raffles.

15:14

How Farquhar had carried out

15:16

relations with the Temengong and

15:18

the Sultan and deferring to

15:20

them so often just set

15:23

Raffles' teeth on edge. Raffles

15:26

did not share Farquhar's philosophy as far

15:28

as how the company was

15:30

supposed to deal with the natives. Allowing

15:33

them a voice in political matters

15:35

was right out. Then

15:38

there was the matter of how Farquhar had carried

15:40

out urban planning. Where he

15:42

placed the port, where he allowed the

15:44

traders to build their factories or warehouses,

15:47

how Farquhar had allocated land

15:49

really rubbed Raffles the wrong

15:52

way. Raffles

15:54

had given unambiguous instructions, no

15:57

selling of land or creating the impression

20:00

who argue for and against who

20:02

was more responsible for the founding

20:04

of Singapore in 1819 and for

20:07

its early success. And that parlor

20:09

game is still going on. Whatever

20:12

monuments to William Farquhar's existence,

20:15

statues, gardens, street names,

20:17

or conspicuous indications pointing to

20:20

his early contributions have long

20:22

disappeared and sort

20:24

of been paved over. Nonetheless,

20:26

the National Museum of Singapore

20:29

called him the co-founder along with

20:32

Raffles. Farquhar

20:34

left Singapore in December 1823. The

20:37

stories of the send-off that the people

20:40

gave him were extraordinary. If

20:42

these reports were true, then

20:44

he was respected and highly

20:46

regarded. Most of the

20:48

history books I used all noted there

20:50

was a much smaller send-off for Raffles

20:53

upon his final departure from Singapore on

20:55

June 9th, 1823. Farquhar

20:59

went up to his former residence in Penang for

21:01

a stretch and then retired from the British East

21:03

India Company in 1826. And he lived his last

21:09

years up in Perth, Scotland, birthplace

21:11

of Ewan McGregor, and he

21:13

lived another 16 years and passed away in

21:16

May 1839. Succeeding

21:19

Farquhar his first resident to

21:21

Singapore was John Crawford. That's Crawford,

21:23

F-U-R-D. Remember him? I mentioned

21:25

last episode that he was

21:27

part of the unit that attacked

21:30

and destroyed the palace in

21:32

Yogyakarta. He was now in

21:34

charge. Once they all survived

21:36

the initial fears of sparking a war

21:38

with the Dutch and after they saw

21:40

the early success of Singapore, everyone

21:43

in the EIC and in

21:46

Britain fell into line as far as allowing

21:49

the cement to dry on this brand

21:51

new jewel in their Asian

21:53

colonial crown. By this time

21:55

in the 1820s, one truly

21:57

had to wonder how was it that

21:59

it Baba

36:00

and unmarried women Nonya. And

36:02

Baba Nonya referred to parennequin

36:05

men and women. And

36:07

a married parennequin woman was referred

36:09

to as bibik. Parennequin

36:11

parents were always on the lookout

36:13

for prospective Chinese husbands among the

36:15

arrivals flocking to Singapore in the

36:18

1820s and 30s. The

36:21

ones who made it and

36:23

achieved success were called taukes

36:25

or toujia in Mandarin. If

36:28

you came to Singapore and established a

36:30

successful business or became wealthy, you earned

36:32

the right to be called a taujia.

36:35

This term literally means

36:37

head of the family. And rich

36:39

Baba merchants with daughters were always

36:41

on the lookout for this class

36:44

of Chinese men. These

36:47

people born in the strait settlement

36:49

were called Baba or parennequin or

36:51

straits Chinese. They spoke

36:53

Baba Malay at home, a blend

36:55

of Malay and Hokkien, and

36:57

were proficient enough in Chinese to use

37:00

that language when out and about and

37:02

in doing business. They

37:04

had a leg up on all other

37:06

Singapore residents doing business there. The

37:09

advantages they enjoyed were first

37:11

and foremost local expertise and

37:13

a network of relationships that

37:16

for some were centuries old.

37:19

And these Baba merchants, more than

37:21

any other group, appealed

37:24

to the European businessmen who seemed

37:26

to prefer dealing with Chinese rather

37:28

than Malay or Bugus. Back

37:30

then, they were the elites

37:32

of the elites, I guess you could

37:35

say. And many played similar roles as

37:37

comparators in other Chinese ports. In

37:40

a story that is compelling, but at

37:42

the same time so ordinary for Southeast

37:44

Asia, Chen Duxiang arrived

37:47

in Singapore, set up a

37:49

roadside stall and sold vegetables

37:51

and poultry. And he

37:53

lived frugally and parlayed his profits

37:55

into his own shop, located at

37:58

Boat Quay, purveying all kinds of

38:00

food. of local goods and necessities

38:02

and with Singapore's growth already in high

38:04

gear. It wasn't that

38:07

hard to achieve the kind of

38:09

success he did. And when he

38:11

had saved up enough, Chen Duxiang

38:13

engaged in land speculation with a

38:15

local British trader and became incredibly

38:17

wealthy, owning more than 50 acres

38:20

of land in the most prime

38:22

locations in Singapore. Chen

38:25

Duxiang or Tan Tak Sang, he

38:27

was known as the Capitan China,

38:30

a title that was akin to

38:32

the head of the Chinese Consolidated

38:34

Benevolent Association. This title

38:37

made him a kind of elder

38:39

in the Chinese community who everyone deferred

38:41

to and who handled disputes and other

38:44

matters on behalf of the government. There

38:47

were also similar titles for the Arab

38:49

and Indian communities, not just in Singapore

38:51

but in Penang and Malacca as well.

38:55

Chen Duxiang's great monument to

38:57

his memory was the

38:59

financing of the Chinese Popper Hospital,

39:01

later known as the Tan Tak

39:04

Sang Hospital. The institution

39:06

was exactly what it sounded like,

39:08

hospital for the poor and destitute

39:10

to seek and receive medical treatment.

39:13

The foundation stone was laid on May 25, 1844 and then

39:15

starting in 1849, this

39:21

hospital served both the Chinese

39:23

and non-Chinese communities of Singapore.

39:26

Today, this is the second

39:29

largest hospital in Singapore in

39:31

a very state-of-the-art and

39:33

internationally admired institution. Chen

39:36

also helped to establish the

39:39

Tianhegang Temple, the Tianfu Gong

39:41

on Telok Air Street. That

39:43

used to be waterfront property,

39:46

not anymore. When newly

39:48

arrived, Fujian Chinese migrants after

39:50

arriving in Singapore, well they

39:52

usually made this temple their

39:54

first stop. There

39:56

they would offer up prayers for

39:58

having successfully survived. the voyage and

40:01

then they would meet with temple

40:03

makhers who would hook them all

40:05

up with their various clan associations

40:07

where they would be able to

40:09

find assistance, finding work, join a

40:12

community and get themselves established. The

40:15

Gungsis or Hui Guans sprang forth

40:17

from this Danhokgang

40:19

temple. The Hokkien

40:21

Hui Guan set itself up inside

40:24

the temple and this organization served

40:27

as the center of the Hokkien

40:29

community in Singapore. A Hui Guan

40:31

has been introduced in previous episodes.

40:33

It means meeting hall but these

40:35

Hui Guans were established by Chinese

40:38

immigrants wherever they ended up in

40:40

the world and played an important

40:42

role in each Chinese immigrant community.

40:45

In 1844, Danhokgang Chandu

40:48

Sheng, he was appointed as

40:50

the first Asian justice of

40:52

the peace. Let me repeat

40:54

the main part of the story again.

40:57

So meteoric had Singapore's

40:59

development been, the British

41:02

were often overwhelmed trying to keep

41:04

everything under control. It

41:06

didn't take long before they had to

41:08

reach out to trusted elders in the

41:10

Chinese community to lend a hand in

41:12

managing the local people. So

41:15

Chandu Sheng was an early example

41:17

of someone who got in on

41:19

the ground floor, achieved success as

41:21

an entrepreneur and gave back to

41:23

his community as a philanthropist. Another

41:27

of the early Chinese greats who

41:29

played a major role in Singapore's

41:31

prosperity was Seiyu Jin or Shuyu

41:33

Jin in Mandarin. I mentioned him

41:35

in that CHP-176 episode on the

41:39

history of the Diochu people. He

41:42

wasn't even half Baba or Peronikang

41:44

like Tan Toxang, though they

41:47

were born of the same generation. Sheiyu

41:50

Jin and Chandu Sheng were friends and

41:52

business associates, but Sheiyu Jin was born

41:54

in Caucho in 1805 and arrived in

41:56

Singapore in 1823

42:00

and he was known as a

42:02

sinker or a mandarin a shinke

42:05

the tauke or tojia were the

42:08

successful businessmen who had made the

42:10

grade you were a sinker

42:12

before you could become a tauke after

42:16

making his fortune shou you jin

42:19

was among the Diochu elites

42:21

of Singapore who built the war

42:23

high Jung temple located

42:25

about a five-minute walk from the

42:27

hok yan tien hok gang or tien

42:30

fu gong this served

42:32

the same role in the Diochu

42:34

community that's where they established the

42:36

nian gong si or in Mandarin

42:38

the nian gong si this

42:41

association became the earliest collective

42:43

voice of the Diochu community

42:45

in Singapore and their mission

42:47

was to act as local

42:50

adjudicators for intra community disputes

42:52

and for any matters related

42:54

to Diochu rights customs and

42:57

religious beliefs shou

42:59

you jin was also a financial supporter

43:01

of the dan tauk sang hospital so

43:04

how did shou you jin make his

43:06

fortune well like a lot

43:08

of Chinese immigrants he went into the

43:11

Gambier business like I

43:13

explained in that episode Gambier or

43:15

cats claw there's a plant extract

43:17

that was mostly used as a

43:19

tanning agent in the leather industry

43:22

it was also chewed like beetle

43:24

nut and utilized sometimes as a

43:26

Chinese medicine profits

43:28

from shou you jin's Gambier

43:31

plantations provided the funds to

43:33

seed a great fortune he

43:36

had gotten into this business right about the

43:38

time that Gambier was discovered

43:40

by European leather tanneries as

43:42

a low-cost and effective agent

43:44

to tan hides it

43:47

had a high tan and content

43:49

astringent properties and other qualities that

43:51

led to a spike in demand

43:53

and shou you jin rode

43:56

that wave all the way to

43:58

prosperity or

46:00

interference in their business affairs, and

46:03

of course to push back

46:05

against anything that rhymed

46:07

with the word taxes. Not much

46:09

has changed in 200 years. So

46:12

those were a couple examples of

46:14

these earliest arrivals to the newly

46:16

minted Singapore who took advantage of

46:19

the times to build great fortunes

46:21

that helped in the settlement's early

46:23

growth. And like the

46:26

Carnegies, Rockefellers, and Astors, they

46:29

used their wealth to fund public

46:31

works and improvements that serve

46:33

the people. Though

46:36

I may emphasize the Singaporean

46:38

Chinese over other ethnicities in

46:40

the series, keep in mind

46:42

that despite the greatest percentage

46:44

of Singaporeans being Chinese, there

46:46

were Arab, Malay, Indian,

46:48

and others from Southeast Asia

46:50

who built vast fortunes that

46:53

served both their community and Greater

46:56

Singapore. Narayana

46:58

Pillai was of Tamil descent who

47:00

got in on the ground floor

47:02

when he accompanied Stanford Raffles from

47:04

Penang to Singapore in May 1819.

47:06

This was during Raffles second trip

47:09

to Singapore. Pillai secured

47:11

employment as a clerk working at

47:13

the Singapore Treasury but was later

47:15

let go. You

47:18

know some people walk around oblivious to

47:20

the opportunities all around them. Some

47:23

see an opportunity and take their

47:25

shot. And with the kind of

47:27

building and construction boom going on

47:29

like it was, Narayana Pillai got

47:31

into the brick making business. Where

47:34

Tanchong Pagar is today, he set up

47:36

his first brick kiln. And like it

47:39

always is when these entrepreneurs

47:41

like Narayana Pillai needed workers, he

47:43

sent out a call to his

47:45

fellow Tamils up in Penang and

47:47

they took the ride down to

47:49

Singapore to make bricks. The

47:52

Tamil people, well going back a

47:54

thousand years and maybe even more,

47:57

were always among the great regional