Crazy Colonisers: A Bibliography

Written By Ng Yi-Sheng

Thanks so much for reading Crazy Colonisers, all about the British colonisation of Singapore! Below you’ll find a list of resources, references and notes, just in case you want to learn more about this subject, or if you want to double-check the claims I made in my book.

Further Reading

I thoroughly recommend Hikayat Abdullah, an 1849 memoir by the Melaka-born clerk Munshi Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir, who claimed to have been a Malay language teacher of Raffles (this was never independently confirmed). His anecdotal reports of early 19th century Singapore make for truly delightful reading. I used the following edition:

  • Abdullah Abdul Kadir, Munshi. The Hikayat Abdullah: The Autobiography of Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir, 1797-1854. Translated by A.H. Hill. Oxford University Press, 1985.

 Among the many published works on Sir Stamford Raffles, the most recent and most comprehensive biography is the following:

  •  Glendinning, Victoria. Raffles and the Golden Opportunity. Profile Books, 2018.

 But if you’d like a more critical approach to him and his legacy, however, I also recommend:

  •  Alatas, Syed Hussein. Thomas Stamford Raffles: Schemer or Reformer? Angus and Robertson, 1971.

  • Hannigan, Tim. Raffles and the British Invasion of Java. Monsoon Books, 2012.

  • Humphreys, Neil. Why Our Great Leader Was Not So Great and Not Much of a Leader. Ethos Books, 2020.

  • Murphy, Stephen A., Naomi Wang and Alexandra Green (eds). Raffles in Southeast Asia: Revisiting the Scholar and Statesman. Asian Civilisations Museum, 2019.

  • Ng Yi-Sheng. “Raffles Displaced.” BiblioAsia. 1 January 2021. https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/all-sections/vol-16-issue-4-jan-mar-2021-raffles-displaced/

 For information on William Farquhar, check out:

  •  Wright, Nadia. William Farquhar and Singapore: Stepping Out from Raffles’ Shadow. Entrepot Publishing, 2017.

Sadly, I’ve yet to discover a really accessible work about the early 19th century political turmoil in the Johor-Riau Sultanate. The best I can suggest for now is the following work in Bahasa Indonesia, which I only discovered after I’d done all the principal research for this project:

  •  Hasan Junus. Engku Puteri Raja Hamidah. Uni Press Kerjasama Pemerintah Kota Tanjungpinang, 2002.

As well as an iconic work about how the Johor Sultanate developed in the aftermath of colonisation:

  • Trocki, Carl A. Prince of Pirates: The Temenggongs and the Development of Johor and Singapore, 1784-1885. NUS Press, 2007.

For a broader take on the decolonisation movement in Singapore, have a look at:

  • Alfian Sa’at, Faris Joraimi and Sai Siew Min (eds.) Raffles Renounced: Towards a Merdeka History. Ethos Books, 2021.

Sources

The Johor-Riau Sultanate (1700s–1800s)

The British trader Alexander Hamilton—who bears no relation to the American founding father of the same name—declined to create a settlement in Singapore in 1703, not because he thought it was a bad place for a port, but because he felt he couldn’t build it up as an individual; this was a task more suited to a company, like the East India Company.

My main sources on Engku Puteri Raja Hamidah’s life were:

  •  Andaya, Barbara Watson. “Gender, Islam and the Bugis Diaspora in Nineteenth-and Twentieth-Century Riau.” Sari 21 (2003), pp. 77-108.

  • Begbie, P. J. The Malayan Peninsula. Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press, 1967.

The shocking detail about her father Raja Haji Fisabilillah being buried on a pig farm is from:

  • Abdullah Abdul Kadir, Munshi. The Hikayat Abdullah: The Autobiography of Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir, 1797-1854. Translated by A.H. Hill. Oxford University Press, 1985. p60.

Different sources give the date of her marriage as 1803 or 1804. I have opted to go with 1803, as cited here:

  • Swastiwi, Anastasia Wiwik.“ Penyengat Island Riau Island: Towards A World Heritage.” International Journal of Environmental Sustainability and Social Science, 3 (1), 2022, pp. 116-129.

Her brother Raja Jaafar’s birthdate had to be pinpointed using the following two sources:

  • Hasan Junus. Raja Haji Fisabilillah: Hannibal dari Riau. Hubungan Masyarakat Pemerintah Daerah Kepulauan Riau, 2000, p108.

  • Matheson Hooker, Virginia (trans). The Precious Gift. Institut Terjemahan & Buku Malaysia, 2012.

His death date appears in:

  • Matheson Virginia. Pulau Penyengat: Nineteenth Century Islamic Centre of Riau. In: Archipel, volume 37, 1989. Villes d'Insulinde (II) pp. 153-172.

I’ve chosen not to elaborate on the ethnic side of the rival factions within the Johor-Riau court. Engku Puteri and her family were associated with the Bugis faction who had immigrated generations ago from Sulawesi, while the Sultan himself was more affiliated with the Malay faction. The fact that these factions frequently intermarried and regularly made, then broke, alliances, means that their dynamics are a little too confusing to summarise in a book for kids.

The British Empire (1700s–1800s)

A note on the illustrations. It’s a little misleading to have George III to be the face of the British Empire in Asia, because at this time, the East India Company was a private corporation that wasn’t under the control of the government. Still, he’s a little more iconic than the actual Directors of the East India Company!

Much of the background information on the British Empire is common knowledge, but here are a couple of great primers:

  • Anand, Anita & William Dalrymple. Empire: World History [podcast]. Goalhanger Podcasts. 2022-now.

  • Dalrymple, William. The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company. Bloomsburg Publishing, 2019.

Information on Farquhar comes from:

  • Wright, Nadia. William Farquhar and Singapore: Stepping Out from Raffles’ Shadow. Entrepot Publishing, 2017.

Raffles Rises (1781–1818)

  • Glendinning, Victoria. Raffles and the Golden Opportunity. Profile Books, 2018.

  • Hannigan, Tim. Raffles and the British Invasion of Java. Monsoon Books, 2012.

Hannigan also talks about the Banjarmasin Affair, which implicates Raffles in the kidnapping of women for Alexander Hare’s colony in Banjarmasin, Borneo. For reasons of space and sensitivity, I chose not to write about this issue.

For information on the Palembang Massacre, I also drew from:

  • Alatas, Syed Hussein. Thomas Stamford Raffles: Schemer or Reformer? Angus and Robertson, 1971.

  • Bastin, John. “Palembang in 1811 and 1812. (Part 1).” Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, 1953, Deel 109, 4de Afl. (1953), pp. 300-320.

  • Bastin, John. “Palembang in 1811 and 1812. (Part 2).” Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, 1954, Deel 110, 1ste Afl. (1954), pp. 64-88.

For information on Dick from Papua, I drew from:

Picking a Port

  • Abdullah. The Hikayat Abdullah.

  • Trocki, Carl A. Prince of Pirates: The Temenggongs and the Development of Johor and Singapore, 1784-1885. NUS Press, 2007.

The Colonisation of Singapore

  • Abdullah. The Hikayat Abdullah.

  • Begbie, P. J. The Malayan Peninsula. Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press, 1967.

Conversion from Spanish dollars in 1819 to Singapore dollars in 2026 was estimated using two resources:

The folktale about the cow skin was shared by my friend, the artist Ezzam Rahman, in the context of the following artwork:

Singapore Under Farquhar (1819–1823)

  • Abdullah. The Hikayat Abdullah.

  • Wright. William Farquhar and Singapore.

The story of the British offering Engku Puteri $50,000 is not stated in contemporary British and Malay sources. The closest thing to a primary source I’ve discovered is the following Dutch source from the later 19th century, which is why I’ve included it as a rumour rather than a fact.

  • Netscher, Elisa. De Nederlanders in Djohor en Siak, 1602 tot 1865: historische beschrijving, Bruining & Wijt, 1870, p277.

My primary resource for Hajjah Fatimah was this article:

  • Liyana Sulaiman, Siti Hajar Zainal and Farhanah Mohamad Saad. “Malay Pioneer Series: 2.2 Ahead of her time: Hajjah Fatimah Binti Sulaiman ‘Al-Bugisi’ (d.1852).” The Malay Heritage Foundation.https://mhf.org.sg/malay-pioneer-series-5/

Raffles vs. Farquhar

  • Glendinning, Victoria. Raffles and the Golden Opportunity. Profile Books, 2018.

  • Raffles, Lady Sophia. Memoir of the Life and Public Services of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles. Oxford in Asia, 1991, p. 452.

  • Raffles, Sir Stamford.  XVII. Descriptive catalogue of a zoological collection, made on account of the Honourable East India Company, in the island of Sumatra and its vicinity. 1822, p254-5.

  • Wright. William Farquhar and Singapore.

A report on the rumours that Raffles had a Chinese wife are summarised here:

The Crimes of Syed Yasin

Singapore Under Crawfurd

It should be noted that Engku Puteri’s attempt to go to Singapore in 1820 was caused by a desire to flee violence in Bintan arising between a conflict between the Bugis and the Dutch. There is no indication that she was bringing Hussein the cogan.

Information on the tomb of Abdul Rahman II, the last Sultan of Riau-Lingga, can be found here:

Strange Tales of Old Singapore

  • Abdullah. The Hikayat Abdullah.

  • Muhammad Ghouse Khan Surattee & the Outreach Unit of Al'Firdaus Mosque, The Grand Saint of Singapore: The Life of Habib Nuh bin Muhammad A-Habshi. Masjid al’Firdaus, 2008.

Raffles Falls... and Rises Again

Extra Facts: More Crazy Colonisers

I’ve gotta be honest: these writeups were so short I used mostly Wikipedia for this research. However, I should mention that the Francis Light information mostly came from:

  • Nedumaran, N. The Forgotten Sentinels: the Sepoys of Malaya, Singapore & South-east Asia (the founding years: 18th to early 20th centuries), 2017.

What Happened to Everyone Else?

  • Gibson, A Complete Catalog of Keramat in Singapore.

  • Muhammad et al, The Grand Saint of Singapore.

  • Jones, Al Semananti. “Engku Puteri Raja Hamidah: Permaisuri Melayu Berjiwa Srikandi.” The Patriots. 25 May 2017. https://thepatriots.asia/engku-puteri-raja-hamidah-permaisuhri-melayu-berjiwa-srikandi/

  • Liyana et al. “Malay Pioneer Series: 2.2.”

  • Trocki, Prince of Pirates.

  • Wee, “John Crawfurd.”

  • Wright. William Farquhar and Singapore.

An example of Crawfurd’s racist essays on Africans, as well as a commentary on his views on Asians, can be found below:

A recent report on the descendants of Sultan Hussein, including his patrilineal heir Tengku Shawal Tengku Aziz, can be found here:

Ng Yi-Sheng
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Twisted Temasek: A Bibliography