SINGAPORE'S DNA UNPACKED

Singapore became an independent country only in 1965 after separating from the Federation of Malaysia but it has been around since 1299 as the Kingdom of Singapura that was founded by a Buddhist prince from what is now Indonesia.

It eventually came under the control of the Malacca Sultanate then the Johor Sultanate who ceded Singapore to Sir Stamford Raffles in the 1820s for an annual stipend. 

Singapura is Sanskrit which means "Lion City" that explains part of its Merlion symbol.

Kampong Glam

The core of modern Singapore is Kampong Glam where Sultan Hussain Mohammed Shah built the first Sultan Mosque and established a Muslim community from the annual stipend he received for ceding the island.

The present mosque that we visited was inaugurated in 1928 and Bussorah Street where we played a Russian roulette of Turkish goat milk ice cream is once where pilgrims, mostly Indonesians who were circumventing Dutch restrictions on pilgrimage, prepare and wait for the pilgrim ship that would bring them to Mecca. Hence, the origins of Arab Street where traders from the Middle East settled and Haji Lane where those embarking for the Hajj stayed.

Nearby are the Malabar Mosque that was built in 1963 by Muslim immigrants from Kerala, and the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes that was built in 1888 to serve Singapore's Indian immigrants. 

Chinatown

The first Chinese junk arrived in the newly opened British port of Singapore in 1821 bringing the first of unskilled Chinese coolies in search of a better life who congregated in an overcrowded community littered with opium dens and brothels, and governed by clans.

In 1822, the Raffles Plan for Singapore allocated kampungs for the Bugis, Arabs, Indians, Malays and Chinese who settled in the island and from there, what is now Chinatown was officially estbalished in 1843.

We stayed in Chinatown where the Sri Mariamman Temple, Jamae Chulea Mosque and Buddha Tooth Relic Temple stand side by side along South Bridge Road while in nearby Telok Ayer Street, the Al-Abrar Mosque is adjacent to Thian Hock Keng that reflects the peaceful co-existence of Singapore's diverse culture.

Chinatown also has interesting stories in the brothels and death houses of old along Sago Street as well as an artistic flourish that is illustrated in the life-sized murals of its history along Mohamed Ali Lane. 

Little India

Serangoon Road is one of Singapore's earliest thoroughfares that was mainly populated by Malays and Chinese with the Indians coming later in the 1820s to work in brick production and later on cattle-related industries in the 1860s, which explains the colorful house of Tan Teng Niah, a prominent taukeh who produced candies from sugarcane juice with the resulting by-products used as cattle feed.    

The Indian presence and influence is reflected in three major Hindu temples along Serangoon Road --- the Sri Vadapathira Kaliamman, Sri Srinivasa Perumal and Sri Veeramakaliamman temples --- that peacefully co-exist with the Buddhist Sakya Muni Buddha Gaya Temple and the Taoist Leong San See Temple along Race Course Road, and the Muslim Angullia and Abdul Gafoor mosques.

In the 1980s, the district officially became Little India and in 2022, we walked through its heritage trail.