Raffles Hotel, then and now, evokes colonial era
By Nur Dianah Suhaimi

Malaysia Star, Malaysia
July 19 2005

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Author Somerset Maugham penned novels under
the frangipani trees at Raffles Hotel in the 1920s. Ernest Hemingway
sipped Singapore Slings at the Long Bar. And in 1967, the hotel was
the backdrop for the movie Pretty Polly.

But if it once was an artists’ haunt, the present-day Raffles Hotel —
made a national monument in 1987 — is a far cry from its former self.

A view of Raffles Hotel in Singapore July 18, 2005. U.S. investment
firm Colony Capital is to buy the entire business of Raffles Holdings,
owner of Singapore’s landmark Raffles Hotel and the Swissotel brand,
for S$1.45 billion ($859 million). (REUTERS/Luis Enrique Ascui)
“The hotel is nothing more than a kitschy icon of Singapore’s colonial
past,” said Cyril Wong, a Singaporean poet. “Its romantic surroundings
are no longer relevant to today’s writers who wish to be inspired by
contemporary issues,” he said.

Some think the 118-year-old hotel, which was sold this week to
U.S.-based Colony Capital, is just another self-important colonial
structure of the past.

“It started off as a colonial enterprise and is now another foreign
enterprise,” said Yasmine Yahya, researcher for the Economist Group.

“There has never been anything particularly Singaporean about the
Raffles Hotel identity. Now that it has been sold to Westerners,
I guess the Raffles Hotel story has come full circle,” she said.

The hotel, formerly an Arab merchant’s bungalow, was opened by Armenian
hoteliers in 1887. In 1933, after the death of its last Armenian owner,
Raffles Hotel was made a public company called Raffles Hotel Limited.

MAGIC

But many of today’s writers and artists would rather draw inspiration
from buildings being torn down than from the old colonial landmark
itself, Singapore poet Wong said.

“If there’s a writer who gets his inspiration from Raffles Hotel today,
I’d tell him ‘Go to Little India — talk about the real thing’,”
28-year-old Wong said.

Little India is one of Singapore’s ethnic enclaves which has managed
to resist much of the urbanisation that has overtaken the area
around Raffles.

Tony Watts, editor of a magazine for expatriates, believes says
the hotel’s former reputation as a writers’ haunt may have been a
bit overblown.

“It was probably not the hotel which inspired writers at the time but
the tropical, undeveloped surroundings of Southeast Asia,” said Watts,
an expatriate of eight years. “Back then, Raffles Hotel might just
be another one of those exciting places to be in this exotic region.”

Indeed, “Pretty Polly”, stars Haley Mills and Trevor Howard in a Noel
Coward romantic comedy about a young lady who spends a few months as
a travelling companion with her wealthy aunt.

The hotel today is largely frequented by wealthy tourists who don’t
mind splurging on hospitality and food.

Despite its central location, very few locals frequent the hotel.

“It’s not for teenagers like me,” said Gan Ruben, an 18-year-old who
works at the Raffles Cafe. “Prices here are too expensive. I’d rather
go to Starbucks because it’s more hip.”

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress