Few people lived in Singapore at the beginning of the 19th century. British governor Stamford Raffles arrived in Singapore on 28 January 1819 and wanted to set up a British trading town. At the time, the island was then ruled by Tengku Abdul Rahman, the Sultan of Johor, who the Dutch and the Bugis from Sulawesi had controlled. However, the Sultanate was weakened by infighting: the Temenggong (Chief Minister) of Tengku Abdul Rahman, as well as his officials, supported the Sultan's elder brother Tengku Long, who was living in exile in Riau. 