Publisher's Synopsis
This title uses the career of Thomas Stamford Raffles as a peg on which to hang a journey of discovery through South-East Asia. Born 1781, Raffles joined the East India Company at the age of 13, and rose by sheer merit to become a founder of nations, social reformer and scholar. Barley follows his travels through Indonesia and Malaysia, picking up contrast between past and present, pointing out strange parallels between Raffle's life and the story of Soekarno, Indonesia`s first president.
