The Downfall of A Famosa

 

Potrait of Prince William of Orange

Following political situation in Europe in 1795, the Dutch colonies in Asia have been handed over to the British administration for a while . When Napoleon's army invaded the Netherlands ( Holland ) in 1795 , Prince William of Orange fled to London , where he ruled all settlements in Netherlands to accept British army. He has to as this to prevent them from falling into the hand of France .

However , they have no interest in returning Malacca to the Dutch with city of A Famosa is still in one piece. They did not want Malacca gives rival to the British settlements of Penang and Singapore .

Potrait of Robert Farquhar

For these reasons, Mr.Lieutenant Governor Robert Farquhar of Penang and Malacca governor between 1803 to 1818, have made a proposal to destroy the city of A Famosa .

British government in India ordered A Famosa Fort that located in Bandar Hilir , Malacca to be destroyed. Fort of A Famosa demolition work began on August 10, 1807 .

At first, he ordered the offender to demolish Fort of A Famosa stone by stone using crowbar iron and 'pemungkis' . When the walls seem too strong to be removed , he decided to destroy Fort of A Famosa by using gunpowder.

He asked local people to dug hole around the city and blow up the fort. The demolition has caused stones as big as a house blew and fell into the ocean . Almost all of the fortress , walls , General Hospital , a two-store rice , residence and six storage room was blasted and trimmed.

Potrait of Stamford Raffles

Meanwhile, Sir Stamford Raffles , a government employee who was on sick leave has come to Malacca on the invitation of William Farquhar . When he knew about the demolition of Fort of A Famosa , he quickly wrote a letter to the British Government of Pulau Pinang and India by stating the destruction of A Famosa Fort should not be done . Among the reasons is because of Malacca itself has historical values and did not required a lot of expenses .

Raffles' proposal was well received by the British Government but it was too late because almost the entire city was destroyed .