Sir Stamford Raffles is known for establishing Singapore as a British port, as the author of The History of Java, and as a collector of natural history and cultural materials. Opinions have changed over time: he has been viewed as a scholarly expert on the region, a progressive reformer, a committed imperialist, and even a plagiariser. This catalogue accompanies the Raffles in Southeast Asia exhibition at the Asian Civilisations Museum, which was co-curated with the British Museum. It shows that Raffles' legacy is more complex than often understood. The catalogue contains five essays, dealing with Raffles collecting in Southeast Asia - what he did and didn't collect and why, the history of his reputation, and the politics and art of Java and the region before and during Raffles time, and full-colour illustrations of all the exhibited objects.