A drawing of Singapore made aboard a ship anchored off the south coast of the island near the Singapore River mouth in February 1819, shortly after the British first visited the island, shows that there were already numerous structures along the shore. The map depicts two villages, one at the seaward edge of the Padang, where the Temenggong lived, the other a “Ryat Village” in the area now called Kampong Gelam (Langdon and Kwa 2010: 6). “Ryat” (rakyat in modern spelling) is a Malay word that can be translated as “commoner” or “royal dependent”. According to Captain Daniel Ross, who accompanied Raffles on this inaugural visit to Singapore, this village was mainly inhabited by fishermen.
Raffles created a Sultanate of Singapore in 1819. After reaching an agreement with Tengku Long, claimant to the throne of Riau which included Singapore, in regards to the British request to set up a trading post in Singapore, Raffles reciprocated by recognising Tengku Long as Sultan Hussein of Singapore. The followers of the Sultan soon began to quarrel with those of the Temenggong, the Riau official who traditionally ruled Singapore and Johor under the sultan of Riau, whose capital was located on Bintan Island for centuries. Raffles alleviated the situation by allocating different land to each group. The Temenggong was given the area of Telok Belangah, the nearest dry land to the west of the Singapore River, while the Sultan was sent in the opposite direction, east, to Kampong Gelam.
By late 1820 or early 1821 a palace was under construction at Kampong Gelam (Hill 1970: 105). Several more palaces were constructed until the 1880s when the current Istana was built. George Bennett, a naturalist and surgeon, who visited Singapore in 1830, described the Istana as it appeared at that time: “a poor-looking bungalow, surrounded by high walls, exhibiting effects of age and climate. Over the large gateway which opened into the enclosure surrounding this dwelling were watch-towers” (Bennett 1834: Volume 2, 27) On the same trip, Bennett noted that the “rajah of Johore” was building a “brig”, an allusion to the customary role of the ruler as a prince of pirates.
Returning in 1833, Bennett remarked that the ruler’s buildings were improved through the erection of a wall; “the entrance was by a gateway of brick” and the house “was constructed after the style of the European residents at Singapore (Bennett 1834: II, 28). It is not clear where this structure stood; it appeared to have been a two-storey building. The ruler seemed to enjoy building projects; he also erected another walled residence for himself in the “Chinese style of architecture” beside the 1833 buildings (Bennett 1834: II, 29). Even though the ruler appeared to have indulged extensively in the construction of various buildings in his “domain,” he continued to reside in an “old thatched palace” that “seemed ready to fall about his ears” (Bennett 1834: II, 29).
The existing building was completed by 1890. Some previous sources mistakenly attributed its construction to Tengku Ali, Sultan Hussein’s son, in 1840. The error might have resulted from the inaccurate attribution of the palace design to George D. Coleman. A map drawn circa 1875–1879 (see Survey Map Accession Number: SP007233) shows that in 1879, the Sultan’s residence was located at the southeast corner of the current compound, in the area of excavation Grid V, while the ruler held court outside the Sultan Gate in what would have been the area of the traditional alun-alun south of the building now known as Gedung Kuning. The present building now used by the Taman Warisan Melayu (Malay Heritage Centre) was constructed sometime in the 1880s, following approval of government funding (see “CO 273 153/14600: Tunku Allum”) to support Tengku Alam’s request to build a new home for himself. The British government agreed in 1888 to grant Tengku Alam $10,000 of the $15,000 the latter had requested in 1886 (see “CO 273 151/3357: Vote of $15,000 for Tunku Allum”).
The Straits Times Weekly Issue described a ceremony held on 13 August 1890 during which Sir Frederick Dickson, Colonial Secretary and Acting-Governor, handed over the key of the new house to Tengku Alam (Tungku Allum) (see “Tungku Allum’s New House” 1890: 2). The Morning Post of 16 September stated that the building was “built by the Straits Government at a cost of $20,000” (see “The ‘Morning Post’ on the Straits Settlement” 1890: 2). The Tengku and his family were at that time receiving “a pension of $1,250 a month” (“The ‘Morning Post’ on the Straits Settlement” 1890: 2). Tengku Allam passed away at 4:30 pm on 24 August 1891 and the funeral was held the next day at Kampung Gelam (see “Death of Tungku Allum” 1891: 12). A survey map of 1893 shows that the house and other structures were already completed by that date (see “Survey Map 1893”).
There is no description of the village of Kampung Gelam before Hussein moved there. It may be possible to analyse artefacts such as ceramics or coins or fish hooks found at the lower levels of one or more of the squares excavated at IKG to identify a pre-1819 layer which might be associated with the ryat or fishing village.
The area designated Kampung Gelam was “bounded by Middle Road, North Bridge Road and Jalan Sultan (named Jalan Malintang in an 1843 map by J. Thomson) although Beach Road in general was also known as Kampong Glam” (Hall-Jones and Hooi 1979: 91). George Windsor Earl, who visited Singapore during the 1830s, observed that “on the opposite side of the river [probably the Freshwater Stream, now the Stamford Canal, which runs along Stamford Road and is now covered], a smooth road runs along the shores of the harbour to Campong Glam, a village a mile and a half from Singapore, occupied by about four thousand Chinese, Bugis, and Malays” (Earl 1837: 348–9).
The population of Kampung Gelam at that time thus was multi-ethnic. According to the 1833 census, “Campong Glam extends from the rivulet near the [Raffles] Institution to the river Rochor, and contains according to the Census, 3,505 inhabitants of whom the Chinese and Malays are the most numerous classes” (Singapore Chronicle and Commercial Register 1833: 3). It is recorded that a British woman, Hester Sophia Prior, wife of the commander of the British military forces in Singapore in 1834, died at Kampong Gelam shortly after giving birth to a daughter (Harfield 1988: 18, 94–95, 281). However, the area designated Kampong Gelam in the 19th century was larger than the current area known by this name; it extended practically all the way to Stamford Road (see Survey Map of 1822–1823).
Earl described the people whom one would have met in Kampung Gelam in the 1830s: “Near the residence of the Sultan he will meet with Malays, lounging about ear the doors of their houses, chewing betel, with their sarongs.” While on the main street Chinese mechanics were “forging ironwork, making furniture, or building boats”; Bugis “who have landed from their prahus to mend their sails, or to twist rope and cables from the materials which they have brought with them”; persons from Sambawa (Sumbawa) who would have been “found chopping young trees into billets for fire-wood, and making hurdles for fencing”; and “Bengali washermen hanging out clothes to dry, and dairymen of the same nation milking their cows” to provide milk for the European population (Earl 1837: 360–361).
European residents at Kampung Gelam in the 1820s included Colonel William Farquhar who resided in a house with his native wife, and his son who bought “a property at the junction of North Bridge Road, and Middle Road” which was sold to a “John Henry Moor, Headmaster of the Singapore Institution” (Leong 2004: 31)
The Istana was declared state property, under the ownership of the British government, in a court case that lasted from the late 19th to the early 20th century. Descendants of Sultan Hussein continued to inhabit the Istana until 2000 and to receive a stipend from the Singapore government. At the end of 1999, a one-time payment was made to the last living relatives, and the Istana was reclaimed by the government.
The Istana had become quite rundown. The roof leaked and many temporary structures had been built around it. The grounds were used as a carpark. It was decided that the site should become a Malay Heritage Centre (Taman Warisan Melayu/MHC) in order to perpetuate knowledge of Singapore’s Malay culture and history. A few artefacts from the archaeological excavation are now displayed in the MHC.