"ARMENIAN Street has been shortened recently and a section of it is now permanently closed to vehicular traffic for good. You have to alight here at Coleman Street and make your way to True Blue Cuisine on foot," quips the cab driver as he carefully brings his vehicle to a stop by the kerb.
"Turn into the minor road at the T-junction just a little further up and the restaurant is less than 100 metres away," he adds helpfully before driving off in the direction of the Registry of Marriages at Canning Rise to look for more passengers.
Although I’ve been to this part of Singapore several times before, covering the final stretch to what’s probably the best Peranakan restaurant in the city on foot is a first. Almost immediately, the surrounding buildings start to take centre stage; the very ones that, in the past, merely formed faceless protrusions in the landscape each time the taxi I was in zipped past Coleman Street.
Among the many historic buildings I stop to admire, an imposing double storey structure with a grand facade proves to be the most intriguing. During the sumptuous Straits Chinese-inspired lunch of ayam buah keluak, kerabu jantung pisang, ngor hiang and udang kuah nenas, images of what appear to be architect tools on the walls of the building continue to occupy my mind.
OFF TO THE LIBRARY
While finishing the last drops of True Blue Cuisines' signature longan and red date tea, I decide to head over to the nearby National Library to find out more about the building located just next to the Singapore Philatelic Museum.
Within minutes of my arrival at the state-of-the-art repository in Bras Basah Road, the knowledgeable librarian on duty identifies the building on Coleman Street as the Singapore Masonic Hall, home to the District Grand Lodge of the Eastern Archipelago (DGLEA).
Based on the library's many references, the tools seen on the building's facade represent one of the most famous symbols of Freemasonry. The compass, which is primarily used to draw circles, represents the realm of infinite boundaries, while the square signifies fairness, balance and stability.
It’s indeed fortunate that there’s still a wealth of reading material available on early Freemasons in this region despite the fact that quite a lot of records and other historical materials were lost when a disastrous fire swept through the Straits Times office in Singapore 1867. The items were kept by a staff member who acted as the DGLEA secretary at that time as well as unofficial Masonic historian.
The DGLEA suffered another blow when its records, except for a few fortuitously preserved correspondences and regular returns to the Grand Lodge in England, were lost when the Japanese Imperial Army occupied Singapore during the Second World War.
PICKING UP THE PIECES
During the post-war reconstruction period, members made an effort to recollect the early history of the DGLEA. They coursed through the meagre records found in England, studied second hand selections from old minute books made before the originals were lost and, most importantly, depended heavily on the articles written by early historians and published in the Masonic Lodge's journal, The Pentagram. These periodicals, which were distributed to many Masonic Halls all over the world survived the ravages of conflict.
Reading the stories written in these journals is like taking a guided tour through time. Almost immediately, I find myself transported back to the days when Freemasonry first gained a foothold in this region with the arrival of the British East Indian Company (BEIC).
Bencoolen (now Bengkulu), on the west coast of Sumatra, became home to the first Masonic Lodge in the Eastern Archipelago when the BEIC established a settlement there in 1765. Since then, the number of Lodges began to increase in tandem with the spread of British influence in this region.
Not much is known about these early Lodges as their membership was made up almost entirely of the small number of BEIC employees. Gatherings were frequently cancelled or cut short as it was difficult to obtain the attendance of more than seven or eight members at each meeting.
Furthermore, the life span of these Lodges were generally short and uneventful due to the transitory nature of the BEIC employees.
STAMFORD RAFFLES
My interest is piqued despite the fact that Bencoolen was never prosperous as it was there that Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles served as Lieutenant-Governor in 1817. During that time, Raffles conceived the idea of establishing a British trade outpost on Singapore.
Raffles, the only son of the captain of a merchant trading vessel between London and the West Indies, was born on July 5, 1781. His parents were by no means affluent and he left school at the age of 14 to serve in a temporary post in a secretary's office of the BEIC in London.
Through sheer diligence, Raffles found himself on the permanent list after five years and thereafter continued to progress in his career. In 1805, his dream to work in the Eastern Archipelago came true. Raffles was appointed Assistant Secretary to the Government of Penang.
In Penang, Raffles developed a profound interest in the locals. Nothing in the lives of the locals, especially the Malays, were too trivial to merit his notice. He cultivated friendship with everyone and was as happy in conversation with a grass cutter or peasant as with members of nobility. Over time, Raffles acquired the extraordinary insight into the hearts and minds of the Malay folk and they, in return, held him in the highest regard.
RESPECT FOR ALL RELIGIONS
In a letter reproduced in a 1958 Pentagram issue, Raffles wrote to his uncle in England saying that he 'respected religions of all persuasions' and that his experiences in Penang 'made him wish that Christians did as much justice to their Redeemer as the Muhammadans do to their Prophet'.
Raffles was in Penang at the time when a grand Masonic dinner was held to celebrate the birthday of the Prince of Wales in 1806 but his name wasn’t on the attendance list as he was not yet a Freemason then.
At around the same time, the winds of war was blowing in Europe. France overran the Netherlands during the Napoleonic Wars and threatened to divest Dutch overseas bases. This directly threatened the BEIC settlement in Java and prompted Raffles to start collecting intelligence on the enemy.
Four years later, in 1810, Raffles made his way to Calcutta and persuaded Lord Minto to send an expedition to Java to forestall French ambitions there. Although the Governor-General of India had been instructed by his superiors not to take any offensive action, Raffles' arguments were so convincing that preparations were immediately put in place for a naval force to set sail.
Raffles accurately predicted the French overtures and his information helped Lord Minto defeat a Franco-Dutch army five times the size of his own. The British took Java in just 45 days. Raffles was made Lieutenant-Governor of the Dutch East Indies and made Buitenzorg (now Bogor) his residence.
RAFFLES BECOMES A FREEMASON
Lord Minto was a prominent Freemason and, before leaving Java for India, he witnessed Raffles' initiation and passing as a Mason. Although there were two Lodges in Batavia (now Jakarta), Raffles applied to be accepted by a small lodge called Virtutis et Artis Amici located in the Pondok-Gedeh coffee estate near Buitenzorg in 1812.
Raffles kept many of the former Dutch civil servants in his administration to assist his small subset of senior British staff members. A year later, the Lieutenant-Governor went on an official tour of the island and stayed a night at Surabaya on July 5, 1813. That evening, a service was rendered at Lodge De Vriendschap to bestow upon Raffles the rank of Past Master.
Java benefitted greatly from the sweeping reforms, both political and humanitarian, initiated by Raffles. He tried to put in place restrictions on the local slave trade even though slavery remained widespread in Java during his tenure.
Raffles aggressively supported the plan to systematically catalogue, for the first time, a large number of ancient monuments in Java. Raffles' surveyor, Colin Mackenzie prepared the first detailed English-language account of Prambanan, a 9th-century Hindu temple complex located near Djokjakarta (now Jogjakarta) while Dutch engineer H.C. Cornelius was tasked to clear and survey Borobudur temple complex with the help of 200 villagers.
Shifting my attention to several other reference books, I learn that the year 1814 brought about the beginning of problems that were to beset Raffles for the rest of his natural life. His integrity was called into question when General Robert Rollo Gillespie, whom Raffles replaced as Lieutenant-Governor of Java in 1811, hurled accusations of corrupt practices.
Gillespie, a fellow Freemason, made the public slur out of jealousy for Raffles' string of successes in the former Dutch colony. Although Raffles managed to eventually clear his name, a series of misfortune struck him soon after.
News of Lord Minto's passing on June 21, 1814 affected Raffles badly. Added to the loss of his friend, Raffles was filled with sorrow to see his work in Java brought to nothing when it was decided, as part of the Anglo-Dutch Treaty, to return the island to the Netherlands.
The final and most devastating blow was the death of his beloved wife, Olivia Mariamne Fancourt on Nov 26, 1814. She died at Buitenzorg, aged 43, and was buried at the Tanah Abang burial ground (now Taman Prasasti Museum) in Batavia.
Although an 1897 article by Demetrius C. Boulger mentioned that 'for about the same time' as the death of Olivia, Raffles had also 'lost in quick succession the children she had borne him' but, after an exhaustive search, I discover that there’s no record of children born from the union of Raffles and his first wife Olivia.
As such, it was highly probable that Boulger had been misled by references of 'deaths to the family', a term that not only covered Raffles' immediate family members but also those of his personal staff members.
BACK TO BENCOOLEN
Raffles returned to England in July 1816. A year later, he wrote and published a book called The History of Java, describing the history of the island from ancient times, as well as received the honour of knighthood. Raffles walked down the aisle the second time when he exchanged marriage vows with Sophia Hull on Feb 22, 1817 before setting sail for Bencoolen to take up his new Lieutenant-General post there.
In October 1818, Raffles sailed to Calcutta to interest Lord Hastings, Lord Monto's successor, to set up a base at the southern end of the Malay Peninsular to counteract Dutch commercial aggression. Lord Hastings, himself a Freemason, authorised the search that eventually led to the establishment of a British trading post in Singapore a few months later.
Although my research ends with Raffles' demise in 1826, the many tragedies he suffered in the year leading up to his death bring to light the many trials and tribulations faced by the man who founded modern Singapore exactly two centuries ago.
By 1823, Raffles and Sophia had lost four of their five children to diseases like enteritis and dysentery in Bencoolen. They managed to save Ella Sophia by sending her back to England, in the care of their nurse Mary Grimes and a Eurasian servant, J. Rousseau.
Raffles and his wife left Bencoolen on the East Indiaman Fame for England on Feb 2, 1824. Unfortunately, she caught fire that very evening after having just sailed 80 kilometres from port.
Although everyone aboard was saved, Raffles' treasured collection of natural history specimens and priceless documents went down with the ship. Raffles intended to use the materials to produce a comprehensive work on the Eastern Archipelago.
Even in retirement, Raffles was dogged by demands from the BEIC for monies they claimed had been paid to him in excess. Those demands survived his death and almost brought his widow to her knees. Raffles' final act in service to his fellow man was the foundation of the London Zoological Society.
Enjoying a quick snack at the library foyer, I thank my lucky stars for the chance discovery of the Masonic Hall earlier in the afternoon. The subsequent library visit has certainly shed light on the tragic private life of one of the most famous Freemasons in the Eastern Archipelago.