This is a letter written by Sir Stamford Raffles to Captain Charles Edward Davis, Samuel George Bonham and Alexander Laurie Johnson. These men were members of a committee appointed by Raffles in 1823, to oversee the implementation of his town plan for Singapore. He argued that these plans were necessary as he envisioned Singapore to be a place of “magnitude and importance”. Lieutenant Philip Jackson was also responsible for drawing up this plan, which was subsequently published in John Crawfurd’s Journal of an Embassy to the Courts of Siam and Cochin-china in 1828. Crawfurd was the British Resident in Singapore from 1823 to 1826. This plan is commonly referred to as the “Raffles Town Plan” or the “Jackson Plan”. The most significant features of Raffles’ plans were the allocation of land for government and commercial use, and the development of ethnic enclaves which segregated the population according to ethnicity and sometimes, province. In this letter, he suggests that a space in Kampong Glam near the Sultan be allocated to the Arabs, whereas the Malays were expected to settle near the Temengong and Panglima Prang, or along the bays and inlets near the beach. The Europeans were given an area extending from eastwards from the cantonments to the southwestern bank of the Singapore river, whereas the Chinese were to settle near the southwestern area of the Singapore river. Raffles also made other provisions for public safety and cleanliness by accommodating for the construction of fire-resistant buildings and advising against the clustering of various wet markets.
