Indians in Singapore, 1819–1945

Description

Since the establishment of British colonial rule in Singapore, Indians have constituted a significant minority in the port city, a position that has continued to the present. Focusing on this important component of Singapore’s cultural mosaic, Rajesh Rai’s work explores the formation and development of the Indian diaspora from the establishment of colonial rule to the end of the Japanese Occupation, revealing the dynamism of diasporic identities in the island’s landscape.  It is noteworthy that the origins of the Indian diaspora in Singapore lay in the movement of varied economic and cultural communities—from impoverished indentured labourers and transported convicts to wealthy traders, educated personnel, and imperial auxiliaries. This book examines their journey in the bourgeoning multi-ethnic settlement located at the confluence of diverse socio-political currents. In so doing, it narrates the distinct and complex experience of the diaspora in a frontier outpost that transformed into a metropolis of global significance.    Drawing on administrative archives, intelligence reports, observer accounts, newspapers, oral testimonies, and community-based records, this study provides a meticulous historical account of Indian migration and settlement that has received little attention in erstwhile scholarship.

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