learnt the Malay language and married a local Malay woman. Singapore With his long Malayan experience and an intimate knowledge of Riau-Lingga politics, Major Farquhar proposed a settlement on Singapore island. He negotiated the provisional agreement of 30 January 1819 with the local chieftain Temenggong Abdul Rahman; and the more formal Singapore Treaty of 6 February 1819, which was signed with the Temenggong and the Sultan Hussein Mohammed Shah, confirming the right for the British to set up a trading post. On the same day, Farquhar, accompanied by a few Malaccan Malays, had to climb up the hill, known as the Bukit Larangan. He drew up the first gun and set up the post to hoist the Union Jack flag on top of the hill, marking the birth of Singapore as a British settlement. Farquhar then became the first First Resident and Commandant of Singapore to develop the colony according to a provisional plan that had been drawn up. Raffles left Singapore on the following day and Farquhar was left to manage the colony when Raffles left, an absence eventually lasting four years. Farquhar took a laissez-faire approach, which suited the local traders who had followed him there. In his new post, he quickly set about clearing the plain on the northeast bank of the Singapore River. His son-in-law Captain Francis James Bernard was appointed as Master Attendant to control shipping. Word of this new trading post soon spread and Singapore became a thriving cosmopolitan town. Farquhar even took the decision to legalize gambling, which drew opposition from Raffles. With crimes thriving in the area, Farquhar then established the first police force in May 1820 and his son-in-law Bernard led as the Police Assistant. Farquhar would only receive official sanction from Raffles three months later in August 1820. Communication with Raffles in Bencoolen and the East India Company in Calcutta were so poor that for more than three years Singapore developed on her own with Farquhar at the helm. On 9 May 1821, Farquhar was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel. Despite his many positive achievements in the formative period of Singapore's development, he adopted measures in his administration that conflicted with Raffles' ideas, notably in allowing the erection of houses and godowns on the Padang and on the nearby banks of the Singapore River. His justification was that in the rapidly expanding settlement 'nothing is heard in the