Book review: In the footsteps of Stamford Raffles by Nigel Barley

once upon a time i went to Singapore, that was two years ago. And i bought a couple of books about the country along with reading about it on the internet (and being there, yeah). One of them was the above, the name Raffles is seen too many times on the isle.

the book is supposedly witty, informative about history etc etc. I didnt' find it particularly witty. But i did find it an interesting read, and providing information about who Stamford Raffles was and what he was doing in Indonesia and Singapore. He is the founder of Singapore. There are different links and comparisons drawn with other leaders before and after him who played a role in South East Asia, (i.e. Sukarno) which i couldn't relate to, since i knew neither.

A couple of things i did not enjoy about the book:
1. The book presents a saint model of Stamford Raffles. According to the read i can assume he was an extraordinary person, but still i oppose the "saint" profile given to anyone at all
2. The author continuously criticises the Dutch rule over Indonesia etc. while it praises the British one, which i find judgemental. Talking about how good a role the Brits played in the area and how bad and destructive the Dutch were. Maybe i don't know much about the history of SE Asia, but weren't they both ruling by force? And what's the perspective of the people who are from Indonesia/Singapore etc?

Would really be interested in hearing the locals' side of the story, which is not particularly included in the book according to me. We have a lot of nomads from those areas of the world, so feel free to comment (and correct me).