Singaporean Sikhs are an ethnoreligious group forming a minority community in Singapore. Sikhism has been present in Singapore for centuries, particularly through the service of Sikhs in the military and police forces of the British Empire. There are about 12,000–15,000 practising Sikhs in Singapore, most of whom are ethnic Punjabis. The community maintains eight gurdwaras, as well as a missionary society, a welfare society, two youth organisations and two sports clubs.
During the period when Singapore was part of the Straits Settlements, Sikhs migrated from the Punjab region to work as policemen under British rule. Many left their homeland due to poverty and debt, seeking better prospects across the Empire. The early Sikhs were commonly employed in law enforcement and security occupations, such as policemen, guards or watchmen. Over time, and especially after World War II, they began to enter business and white-collar professions that includes finance and law.
History
Overview Sikh settlement of Singapore was part of the greater Sikh settlement of Malaya (including the Malay states and the Straits Settlements) that was facilitated by the British Empire, with their settlement occurring in three distinct waves (minus the earliest migrants, who arrived as convicts and differed from later arrivals). The three waves are as follows:
First wave occurred between the 1870s and 1914, with Sikhs of the British Indian Army working in Singapore for security and policing roles in the Straits Settlements Police Force Second wave occurred between 1914 and 1945, with educated, business-minded Sikhs coming to Singapore to work in the colonial auxiliary services and as business-owners Third wave occurred from 1945 to the 1950s, with it consisting of partition-refugees, family-reunifications, and regional twice-migrations, such as from Thai Sikhs
The Sikh settlers in the colonial-period mostly derived from the peasantry of the Majha, Malwa, and Doab regions of British Punjab. Most of the Sikhs of Singapore today are descended from Sikhs who arrived during the colonial-period as there has been little modern migration of Sikhs from India or elsewhere to Singapore.
19th century
Earliest arrivals
The earliest Sikhs in Singapore arrived as convicts in the 1850s. Some of the first Sikhs to migrate, albeit not voluntarily, to Singapore were Maharaj Singh and Khurruck Singh in 1850; Maharaj Singh was sent there as a political prisoner by the British Empire after the Second Anglo-Sikh War. 2009/04/15/Sikhs in Singapore 1850 They both arrived in Singapore on 14 June 1850 whilst other sources claim their date of arrival in Singapore to be 9 July 1850. Maharaj Singh has been positioned by the Singaporean Sikh community as their antecedent and founding figure in an effort to establish the community's historical link to Singapore. He has become a popularly venerated figure, respected as a martyr, saint, and miracle-worker.
Aside from them, there is scant evidence of a prominent Sikh presence in Singapore prior to 1881, however Tan Tai Yong speculates that some Sikhs may have been present in Singapore from the time of the earliest British settlement in the early 19th century as sepoys, domestic servants, and convicts. According to Yong, Sikhs began migrating out of the Punjab for economic reasons ever since its annexation in 1849 by the British.
In the second half of the 19th century, the majority of Sikh migrants to Singapore were employed in the police or security forces. When these migrants returned to their native villages in Punjab on vacation, they spread word about the prospects of Singapore for settlement, leading more of their kind to come, increasing the Sikh diaspora in Singapore.
This marked the start of a proper Sikh community in Singapore as prior to this, the Sikhs that were sent here were convicts as Singapore served as a convict colony, and did not form a community. However, this stopped in 1857 when Andaman Islands became the new convict colony, since then, up till the formation of the Sikh Police Contingent, there were no records of Sikh migrants in Singapore.
Police and military recruits A factor which led to Sikhs joining the military or migrating out of Punjab was also the local economic situation in Punjab during the British-rule. Due to the political stability and economic growth in the Punjab after its annexation by the British, profits from agricultural output increased which led to the prices for arable land to rise. Thus, peasants started to use land as a collateral to borrow money from moneylenders, especially in the Majha region. They used these funds to purchase more land, fund a conspicuous lifestyle, and pay their land revenue taxes. However, there was a risk of them losing their land if they could not pay off their loans, thus these Sikhs began to join the military to supplement their income, as military service provided regular pay and pensions. The British preferred to recruit Sikhs belonging to the Jat caste from particular districts in the Majha region. Many Sikhs who were not able to be recruited in the colonial military looked elsewhere and either set westward to the canal-colonies or moved abroad looking for work, such as in North America (Canada, USA) or in southeast Asia (Thailand, Malaya and the Straits Settlements).
The Sikhs were idealized as a martial race and admired by the British, especially after encountering how the Sikhs fought during the war against British in Punjab, also known as the First Anglo-Sikh War, which happened from 11 December 1845 to 9 March 1846.Singh, Mohinder. 1985. Communities of Singapore (Part 2) Pitt Kuan Wah Interview by. In person. Jat Sikh recruitment into the Indian British military increased after the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857. The Sikhs were known as martial Indians, known for their bravery and their well-built body.Lai, Ah Eng. 2008. Religious Diversity In Singapore. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies jointly with Institute of Policy Studies. The uprising of Singapore Societies along with the local police not deemed fit by the British lead to the recruitment of the Sikhs. In 1879, the Commission of Enquiry of the Straits Settlement Police Force in Singapore made a recommendation for the recruitment of Sikhs from the Punjab for the purposes of policing Singapore. This led to the eventual establishment of the Sikh Police Contingent (SPC) in Singapore in 1881, with the first batch of 54 Sikh recruits arriving in Singapore on 26 March 1881 and another 65 in August that year.Singh, Choor (Justice). 1991. Communities of Singapore (Part 2) Rajandran Supramaniam Interview by. In person. Around 200 Sikhs arrived to Singapore Island to form a new Sikh police contingent to augment the local police force. A total of 165 Sikhs from British Punjab arrived on the island to form the new police contingent in 1881. Thus, Sikhs began migrating to Singapore in-hopes of being recruited by the Straits Settlement Police Force. The Sikh policemen were deployed at the Tanjong Pagar Police Station as well as the Tanjong Pagar Dock Police Station. The Sikhs responsibility was to counter Chinese Secret Societies as well as the security of the docks, harbors and the godowns. However, not all Sikhs that arrived are recruited as policemen as the British had stringent requirements – recruit has to be younger than 25 years old, have a minimum height of 5 feet 6 inch (1.68m) and a minimum chest measurement of 33 inch (84 cm).National Library Board, Singapore, and Jaime Koh. 2013. "Sikh Community | Infopedia". Eresources.Nlb.Gov.Sg. http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/infopedia/articles/SIP_2013-07-29_174120.html. On top of that, it was also revealed in the General Orders that only non-English educated Sikhs who came from the farming community (known as Jat Sikhs) are to be recruited. This is to ensure that the British will be able to control these Sikhs, as they were considered obedient and will follow blindly to those who they have taken the oath of obedience to. Hence, those who failed to be selected found work as security guards and watchmen with private employers.
In 1898, a Sikh from Hong Kong named Lal Singh acted as a leader for the community during meetings, successfully gathering funds for the establishment of a dharamshala.
At the time, Punjabis and Sikhs were not the only group of Indians in Singapore, there were also Tamils, Malayalis, Telugus, Ceylonese, Gujaratis, Sindhis, Biharis, and Bengalis.
20th century By the turn of the century, the community was still small but settled (concentrated in the town areas), and predominantly male. These were mostly transitory migrants who had no true intentions of permanently settling in Singapore, with them having the goal of eventually moving elsewhere or returning to their homeland. There were smaller amounts of Sikh females but they were usually the wives of Sikh policemen. The reason for limited amounts of Sikh females is due to the unfamiliar environment, lack of employment options, and the living standards. It was typical for married Sikh men to leave their wives back in Punjab and reside in Singapore without them or for single Singaporean-Sikh men to return to Punjab in-order to find a wife and get married, after they had saved-up enough funds for the purpose. Most Singaporean Sikhs in the early 20th century were employed as policemen, security guards, or caretakers. However, some Singaporean Sikhs at the time pursued work in agriculture, such as by being dairy farmers and bullock drivers and keeping some heads of cattle on the outskirts of town. Many of the Sikhs, especially watchmen, were working multiple jobs or side-hustles (especially in money-lending) in-order to bring-in as much income as possible and to send funds back to their homeland in the form of remittance. Some of them aimed to eventually return to Punjab as wealthy individuals and thus worked hard to achieve their dream. Often, retired policemen took-up new jobs as watchmen, which afforded them to become moneylenders as well. The Singaporean Sikh policemen were barracked at Pearl’s Hill whilst those working as watchmen or security-guards resided near their places of employment, which were usually go-downs, banks, and offices located within the municipal area.
In 1912, the Journal des Voyages published a satirical print of Sikh policemen rounding up Chinese criminals by their queues in Singapore. In 1915, the Sikh Advisory Board was formed as a government body to inform the government on issues related to Sikh religion and custom.
After WW1, especially in the 1920's and 1930's, a new type of Sikh commercial migrants started to arrive in Singapore, these were business-minded Sikhs who worked as petty traders, pedlars, shopkeepers, and merchants, particularly in textiles. They are to be distinguished from the Jat Sikh migrants sourced from the peasantry that had characterized and dominated the ranks of the prior Sikh arrivers. They started to build-up commercial enterprises, such as in textiles, which catered to both the Indian and European segments of the Singaporean population as wholesalers and retailers. Singapore was sort-of a second-choice for Sikh textile workers, as they preferred Bangkok in Thailand, which was the distribution centre of the textile trade in SE Asia. In 1931, the Singapore Khalsa Association was founded by young Sikh Singaporeans who wanted an organisation that met their needs, such as by hosting educational lectures and discourses on Sikh topics and also sports.
During the Japanese occupation of Singapore from 1942–45, the Gurdwara Sahib Silat Road housed war widows and orphans. The Sikh Police Contingent of Singapore was abolished in 1945.