Why is Raffles so highly respected?

Sir Stamford Raffles founded Singapore. Its, of course, common that we, Singaporeans respect him. He helped Singapore took the first step to self goverment. I say this as he helped us break free from Malaysia. This is also counted as the first step although the British took over Singapore for quite some time. He also found lots and lots of plants and animals not founded sosome of them are named after him. One of the schools in Singapore that is named after him is the "Raffles Instituition". One of the flowers named after him is the Rafflesia. It is the biggest flower in the whole world currently. It smells like rotting flesh. It is also the national flower of Malaysia. Until now, Sir Stamford Raffles is still respected by all........