​News | Pirate or hero? Raffles bicentennial fuels Singapore debate

​A white polymarble statue of Sir Stamford Raffles stood by the Singapore River, purportedly at the exact spot where the British colonial official first landed when he reached the Lion City, "disappeared" this month. Local academics said the bicentennial has been successfully framed as a commemoration of history, not a celebration of colonialism. Speaking to Al Jazeera, Ngoei Wen-Qing, assistant professor of history at NTU, said organisers understood "that this is a thorny issue and don't treat the bicentennial as a celebration of Singapore's colonial heritage, but as an opportunity to inspire a conversation about Singapore's history." -

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