William Farquhar versus Stamford Raffles Walking Tour

To some, it may be now fashionable to speak unfavorably of Sir Stamford Raffles (especially when negative stories begin to appear). William Farquhar on the other hand, after more than 200 years is beginning to win the recognition he so deserved during his living years. The story of bad blood between our 2 fore-founders sticks out like a sore thumb in our history.

Old wise men often say – Time heals everything. But “Time” didn’t quite do that during our 200th anniversary. According to what I had read, the descendants of both parties didn’t dine together during the 200th anniversary celebrations. They were polite, but no, they didn’t dine together.

We, the citizens of Singapore, will meet and decide how we are going to put the past behind us. You, the tourist will see how we are going to do this. We are going to run through the list of good things they have done, and also, the list of bad and naughty things they have done.

We meet at 9am, on the 11th July 2022 (MONDAY), at Raffles Place, Raffles Place MRT, in front of The Arcade. This tour will end at the white statue of Sir Stamford Raffles just beside our Singapore River. We’ll study the possibility of adding a statue of William Farquhar at the spot where they signed The Singapore Treaty on the 6th of February 1819.

Note:

• We do the world wide practice of tipping at the end of the tour.
• We also reserve the right to accept or reject habitual late cancellations and No Shows.