"My
Singapore"
by May Loh
Stroll
along the streets, board a bus or take a ride on the MRT trains and you will
meet with the Chinese, the Malays and the Indians, some of whom, because of
their headdress, can be recognized as Sikhs. All are Singaporeans, however.
Today, the Chinese, the Malays and the Indians had made up 78%, 14% and 7% respectively
of a total population of just over 3 million. Rounding of the figure to 100
are the other ethic groups, which include the Arabs and Jews, Caucasians, Eurasians
and Japanese. Despite the different backgrounds that people of Singapore come
from, all of them regard themselves as Singaporeans.
-
Chinese
More
than 40% of the Chinese are Hokkien while nearly 25% are Teochew. Cantonese
take up 17%, Hainanese and Hakka each make up 7%, and about 2% are Foochows.
Today, these different groups all mix freely, largely because of constant
government campaigns urging all Chinese to speak one language: Mandarin.
- Malays
The Malays originally came to Singapore from the Malay Peninsula and the islands
of the Indonesian Archipelago, while the majority of the Indians are Tamils
from the state of Tamil Nadu in southern India but there are also Gujeratis,
Sindhis, Bengalis, and Sikhs from the north and also includes Pakistanis,
Bangladeshis and Sri Lankans.
- Peranakans
The Peranakans are a small group with culture, cuisine and style of
traditional costume all their own. They are actually the descendants of men
from the Chinese mainland and Malay native women who intermarried long ago.
Eurasians, whose number is about 250,000, are attempting to retain their identity
while remaining full-blooded Singaporeans. They have successfully been classified
as "Eurasian", rather than being categorised with all the "Other"(minorities)
in official classification.
Attraction
Night Safari
Botanic Garden
Sentosa
Fort Siloso
Merlion
Food
Contact Me lohchumay@hotmail.com
Email Me