Singaporeans or Singapore people are citizens of the city-state of Singapore[2] – a multi-racial

and multi-cultural country with Singaporean Chinese, Indians, and Malays historically making up
the vast majority of the population, who descended from various ethnic groups of China, South
Asia (mainly India), and the Malay Archipelago.
Singaporean

Orang Singapura  (Malay)
新加坡⼈ (Chinese)
ச க ர  (Tamil)

Flag of Singapore

Total population

c. 3.7 million
Singaporean Chinese · Singaporean Indians · Singaporean Malays

Regions with significant populations

 Singapore 3,439,200

Diaspora total c. 265,000

 Australia (main article) 63,077[1]

 Malaysia 42,474[1]

 United Kingdom (main article) 41,143[1]

 United States (main article) 37,106[1]

 China 21,952[1]

 Indonesia 19,681[1]

 Canada (main article) 11,731[1]

 New Zealand 5,370[1]

 India (main article) 4,308[1]

 Netherlands 3,382[1]

 Thailand 2,962[1]

 Japan 2,796[1]

 France 2,395[1]

 Brunei 2,285[1]
   Switzerland 1,838[1]

Languages

National: Malay
Official: English · Chinese · Tamil
Also: Chinese dialects · Indian languages · Singlish

Religion

Buddhism · Islam · Hinduism · Christianity

Also: Taoism · Sikhism · Chinese folk religion

Related ethnic groups

Malaysians · Bruneians · Indonesians

In 1819, the port of Singapore was established by Sir Stamford Raffles, who opened the port to
free trade and free immigration on the south coast of the island. Many immigrants from the
region settled in Singapore. By 1827, the population of the island was composed of people from
various ethnic groups.[3]

According to the 2006 AsiaBarometer survey, a majority of Singaporeans identify themselves as

"Singaporean", while a small percentage prefer to identify with their racial group.[4] Currently, the
population of Singaporeans stands at 3,439,200 and the population of overseas Singaporeans
stands at 214,700.[5]

Overview

Indigenous population

The earliest records of settlement on the island dates back to the 2nd century, where the island
was identified as a trading port which was part of a chain of similar trading centres that linked
Southeast Asia with India and the Mediterranean.[6] The earliest settlers of the island were
known as the Orang Lauts, and the island was an outpost of the Srivijaya Empire until it was
invaded by the Tamil Emperor Rajendra Chola I of the Chola Empire in the 11th century.[7] A small
Malay kingdom, known as the Kingdom of Singapura, was founded in 1299 by a fleeing Srivijayan
prince, Sang Nila Utama, who was crowned as the Raja of the new state. After the fall of the
kingdom in 1398, the island fell under the suzerainty of various regional empires and Malayan
sultanates until its destruction by Portuguese raiders in 1613.[3]
Prior to the arrival of Raffles, there were hundreds of indigenous Malays living on the island
under the Johor Sultanate. Most of the indigenous Malays came from the Malay Archipelago.[8]
There were an estimated 1,000 people living on the island, who were predominantly Orang Laut
with small population of 20–30 Malays who were the followers of Temenggong Abdul Rahman,
and about 20–30 Chinese.

Modern Singapore
Main articles: History of Singapore and Singaporean nationality law

The majority of Singaporeans today are descendants of immigrants who settled on the island
when Singapore was founded as a British trading port by Raffles in 1819.[9] At that time, Raffles
decided Singapore would be a free port and as news of the free port spread across the
archipelago, Bugis, Javanese, Peranakan Chinese, Indian and Hadhrami Arab traders flocked to
the island, due to the Dutch trading restrictions.[10] After six months of Singapore's founding as a
free port, the population increased to 5,000, and by 1825, it had passed the ten thousand mark.

After Singapore was granted self governance from the British, Singaporean citizenship was
granted and according to the Singapore Citizenship Ordinance 1957, citizenship was granted to
all residents who were born in Singapore or the Federation of Malaya, British citizens who had
been resident for two years, and others who had been resident for ten years.[11]

Today, Singaporean citizenship is granted by birth, by descent, or by registration. Although

provided for in the Constitution, citizenship by naturalisation is no longer granted. The
government instead uses the constitutional provision for citizenship by registration to grant
citizenship to resident aliens.[12]

Racial and ethnic groups

Main articles: Race in Singapore and Demographics of Singapore

See also: Chinese Singaporeans, Malay Singaporeans, Indian Singaporeans, and Eurasians in Singapore

Men of various races- Chinese, Malay,

and Indian gather at a street corner in
Singapore, circa 1900.
Singaporeans of Chinese descent make up 74.1%, Malays make up 13.4%, Indians make up 9.2%,
and residents of other ethnicity make up 3.3% of the 3,870,739 of the resident population
(including persons holding Permanent Residency).[13] To avoid physical racial segregation and
formation of ethnic enclaves common in other multi-racial societies, the Singapore government
implemented the "Ethnic Integration Policy" (EIP) in 1989 where each block of units are sold to
families from ethnicities roughly comparable to the national average.[14] The country also
celebrates Racial Harmony Day to commemorate the 1964 race riots in Singapore and to
remember the consequences of racial disharmony the country experienced during the 1964
racial riots.[15]

Other minority groups in Singapore include, Arab, Armenians, Chitty, Eurasians, Peranakans and
Sri Lankans. There are also many foreign/expatriate communities in the country including the
Australians, Filipinos, Japanese, Koreans, Nepalis and Pakistanis.

Culture

Main article: Culture of Singapore

See also: Architecture of Singapore and Public holidays in Singapore

Shophouses in Singapore

Singaporean culture is a mix of Asian and European cultures, with influences from the Malay,
Indian, Chinese, and Eurasian cultures. This is reflected in the architectural styles of buildings in
several distinct ethnic neighbourhoods, such as Little India, Chinatown and Kampong Glam and
Singlish, which is a local creole language which consists of words originating from English,
Malay, Hokkien, Teochew, Cantonese and Tamil, used by Singaporeans in a less formal setting.

Major festivals including Chinese New Year, Hari Raya Puasa, Deepavali, Vesak Day, Christmas,
Good Friday and New Year's Day which are celebrated by the different major racial and religious
groups are designated as public holidays.

Religion
Main article: Religion in Singapore
Singapore is the world's most religiously diverse nation,[16] with Singaporeans following various
religious beliefs and practices due to the country's diverse ethnic and cultural mix. Dharmic
religions have the highest number of adherents in Singapore, with 33% of the population
practising Buddhism and 5.1% of the population practising Hinduism. Many Singaporeans are
also adherents of Abrahamic religions, with 18.3% of the population identifying as Christian, and
14.7% identifying as Muslim. Other prominent faiths practised by Singaporeans include Taoism
(10.9%), Chinese folk religion, and other Dharmic religions like Sikhism and Jainism. A small
percentage of Singapore's population practices Zoroastrianism and Judaism. Only 0.9% of
Singaporeans identify as atheist.

Language
Main article: Languages of Singapore

Singapore has four official languages, English, Malay, Mandarin, and Tamil.[17] Malay is the
ceremonial national language of the country and is the home language to 13% of the
population.[18] Although the majority of the population does not speak Malay, Malay is used in
the national anthem of Singapore and also in citations for Singapore orders and decorations and
military foot drill commands.[19] Singapore English is the main language spoken by
Singaporeans.[20] It is officially the main language of instruction in all school subjects except for
Mother Tongue lessons and is also the common language of the administration, and is promoted
as an important language for international business.[21] English is the de facto lingua franca of
the country.

References

1. "World Migration | International Organization for Migration" . Iom.int. Retrieved January 8,

2016.

2. Josey, Alex (2013-02-15). Lee Kuan Yew: The Crucial Years . Marshall Cavendish International
Asia Pte Ltd. p. 457. ISBN 9789814435499. "By legal definition the Singaporean is a citizen of
Singapore."

3. "History of Singapore" . One World Nations Online. Retrieved August 29, 2015.

4. Siok, K.T. (2012). Happiness and Wellbeing: The Singaporean Experience. Routledge. p. 100.
ISBN 9781136177088.

5. "2017 Singapore Population in Brief" (PDF). Strategy Group Singapore. Retrieved January 26,
2018.

6. Hack, Karl. "Records of Ancient Links between India and Singapore" . National Institute of
Education, Singapore. Archived from the original on April 26, 2006. Retrieved 2006-08-04.
7. Heidhues 2001, p. 27

8. Vasil, R K (2000). Governing Singapore: democracy and national development. Allen & Unwin.
p. 96. ISBN 978-1-86508-211-0.

9. Jenny Ng (1997-02-07). "1819 - The February Documents" . Ministry of Defence (Singapore).

Retrieved March 1, 2015.

10. "Singapore – Founding and Early Years" . U.S. Library of Congress. Retrieved 2006-07-18.

11. Lepoer, Barbara Leitch (ed.) (1989). Singapore : A Country Study . Washington, D.C.: GPO for
the Library of Congress., ch. 10 ("Road to Independence").

12. "Citizenship rules of Singapore" . Government of Singapore. Retrieved 20 February 2015.

13. "Statistics Singapore - Population Trends" (PDF). SingStat. Retrieved March 1, 2015.

14. HDB InfoWEB: Ethnic Integration Policy & SPR Quota : Selling Your Flat Archived 2015-02-
22 at the Wayback Machine.. Retrieved March 1, 2015

15. "Speech by Mr Heng Swee Keat, Minister for Education, at the Racial Harmony Day
Celebrations on Monday, 21 July 2014, at 9:20am at Elias Park Primary School" . MOE,
Singapore. Archived from the original on 19 March 2015. Retrieved March 1, 2015.

16. "Global Religious Diversity" . Pew Research. Retrieved 15 April 2014.

17. "Official languages and national language" . Constitution of the Republic of Singapore.
Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved 2010-11-11.

18. Tan, P.K.W. (2014). Singapore's balancing act, from the perspective of the linguistic
landscape. Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia, 29(2), 438-436.

19. Singapore Arms and Flag and National Anthem Act (Cap. 296, 1985 Rev. Ed. )

20. Gupta, A.F. Fischer, K., ed. "Epistemic modalities and the discourse particles of Singapore"
(DOC). Approaches to Discourse Particles. Amsterdam: Elsevier: 244–263.

21. "31 March 2000" . Moe.gov.sg. Archived from the original on 6 March 2012. Retrieved
2011-01-27.

Bibliography

Heidhues, Mary Somers (2001), Southeast Asia: A Concise History, Hudson and Thames,
ISBN 978-0-500-28303-5

Last edited 1 month ago by an anonymous user