 In 1818 , Sir Stamford Raffles was appointed as the Lieutenant Governor of the British colony at Bencoolen . He was determined that Great Britain should replace the Netherlands as the dominant power in the archipelago , since the trade route between China and British India , which had become vitally important with the institution of the opium trade with China , passed through the archipelago . The Dutch had been stifling British trade in the region by prohibiting the British from operating in Dutch @-@ controlled ports or by subjecting them to a high tariff . Raffles hoped to challenge the Dutch by establishing a new port along the Straits of Malacca , the main ship passageway for the India @-@ China trade . He convinced Lord Hastings , the Governor @-@ General of India and his superior at the British East India Company , to fund an expedition to seek a new British base in the region . 
