Philip John Stigant

In 1871 the "responsibles" triumphed and Stigant spend much of the rest of the decade more involved in local council elections.

Altogether, in spite of being a conservative imperialist himself, he joined a large group of local leaders who implored Frere to rethink his policies.

They were less afraid of the dirty streets than of being pushed out of areas of the city by the higher rates which would be needed in order to pay for the proposed new infrastructure.

(He was found guiltless of libel although the fraud accusation turned out to be baseless) In his last term as Mayor, he was involved in a public debate with Abdol Burns, the representative of the city's Muslim Malay voters, regarding the city's smallpox control policies, which contravened Muslim practices.

After attempting to persuade Burns to conform to the citywide policies, Stigant eventually relented, and was widely seen as having lost the debate.