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Singapore Cultural Diversity

Singapore is a country that prides herself for double-digit economic growth, efficiency and its laws, conversely as a result, many short visit travellers may overlook its uniqueness of its cultures and practices. The indigenous people of Singapore is the Malays and the remainder of the population are mostly descendants of immigrants. The main communities are the Chinese (76%), Malay (14%) and Indian (7%). However, there are also prominent sub-communities such as Peranakans and Eurasians.

In a country of just a tad under 5 million people in an area about 700 sq km with 4 official languages and a good mix of different races, appreciation, understanding and tolerance of each others customs and practices is a must. The purpose of this article is to provide a summary of the dominant communities and manner to explore its diversity. For the specifics, please read Singapore Facts & Intro.

Languages

Lets talk about languages first. Given that we are a multi-racial society and an ex-British colony, the lingua franca here is English (British standard English). We do have own local slang or colloquialisms; we call it Singlish. Most Singaporeans under the age of 50 were made to study 2 languages in primary and secondary schools. The first language is English while the 2nd language is dependent on the ethnicity of the student... meaning, Chinese students study Chinese, Malay students study Malay and Indian students Tamil. What happens if the student is of mixed parentage? Then there are other language options which is dependent on the availability at the school enrolled.

Ethnicity and communities

The core of the population are descendants of imigrants from China, India and pockets of the Malay geo-sphere. Mass migration happened after the British acquired the island in the early 1800s.

Main ethnic communities

Sub ethnic communities

Religions

The complexity of our diversity is amplified by our religious practices which is somewhat a reflection of our ethnic proportions.

Core religious practices

This religious harmony is celebrated by common recognition of faiths through public holidays during major festivals. Further it is support by laws and finally cooperation between faiths is encouraged through the Inter-Religious Organisation.

Housing: The way we live

Singapore is a country and also a city. The biggest island is named Singapore while there are over 20 habitated other islands that also forms part of Singapore. The area of the main island of Singapore is just over 600 sq km and as such over 85% of Singaporeans live in highrise purpose-built apartments and estates know as HDB estates (Housing Development Board). This is housing for the masses and not to be confused with similar housing programmes in Europe/ Australia/ North America etc.

Each estate is pretty much self-contained and have everything that the typical family may need. Most Singaporeans do not spend their weekends shopping or dinning in Orchard Road, they stay in their estates. What to expect there; apartment blocks with lots of communal spaces to encourage locals to socialise, cineplexes, religious places, sporting facilities, parks and of course food and shopping centres.

To encourage understanding between the various ethnic groups, purchases of HDB apartments is subjected to the Ethnic Integration Policy. What this is about is to ensure that there is minimum impact of racial clustering that leads to misunderstanding.

Let me explain why this is interesting: high population density, high rise living, harmonious multi-racial/ multi-religious environment. Singapore has 4.7 million people and of this 3 main races are Chinese, Malay, Indians and 4 main religions are Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity, Islam and Hinduism. Minimal racial or religious problems here... perhaps its due social architecture by our gov ... like playing S1mm City. Is social re-engineering a bad thing in this context?

UN World Habitat Award for Excellence in Housing Design in 1993 went to Tampines; which is typical of such a housing project.

My favorite is Toa Payoh. Go in early and stroll around the bus/ train interchange, feel the rhythm of the community, rushing to get to work. Then around 10am, move to the markets and watch the grannies and aunties do their food shopping, around 11am, the OAPs gather around the Toa Payoh Library and play chess and banter of days gone by. Lunch time, go to a hawker centre and watch the working crowd get rush for their one hour break. After lunch, move to Shuang Lin Shi, a large chinese temple with monastry and watch the proceedings. Evening time, do a run at the stadium or jump into the swimming pool. Later, wander up to the top floor of an apartment block and check out the paranomic views.

Hey, if not for anything else, you actually learn how majority of real Singaporeans live. The guide books and this forum can't give you that, you just got to experience it for yourself and be a traveller for a change.

The Arts as an expression of a community

Personally, I don't fancy the Singapore Art Museum at Bras Basah; perhaps we need to wait till 2012 for the National Gallery to be open... My current favourite is at National University of Singapore, Cultural Centre. At the cultural centre, there is 4 floors of art work; permanent as well as temporary collections. My favourite local artist, Ng Eng Teng, has bestowed his collection to NUS. Only his last commerical work is seen at the Singapore Art Museum.
The amateur art scene is thriving more than ever; The Arts House along the Singapore River, theatre groups, and even cultural groups such as the Peranakan Association of Singapore. Go watch various Chinese Opera Troupes practise; its totally unlike Opera as you heard or seen... it has acrobatics, extreme makeup and elaborate period costumes.. how about watching kungfu flicks in one these cinemas in the housing estates. Yes, they are all subtitled in English and Malay..

Foods of a Nation

Every Singaporean you meet professes to be an expert on Food (no exaggeration). However, remember that if you come to Singapore for the first time, you really can't make out the difference between whats good and whats not. Just don't be in a situation where you are made to pay crazy amounts of money for something mediocre.... tourists traps like Newton Hawker Centre and Boat Quay need to come with warnings....

A sampling of favourite foods of Singapore. Depending on the time of day.... if I'm showing someone a food tour of singapore foods...

Ok, I know that some of these dishes can be found in other parts of the region but there are local variations which still makes it worthwhile to try. The names may be difficult to pronounce... here you can check for wheve to find the best of each of these dishes...
Makansutra, Best Food reviews, Sintercom's Makan Time directory

 

 

This article is by no means complete and are opinions. Should you feel that I should be corrected or more info to be added, please contact me

 

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