ABSTRACT

In 2006, the Indian diaspora in Singapore comprised approximately 319,100 (8.8 per cent) out of a total resident population of just over 3.6 million (Singapore Department of Statistics 2006: 12). The use of the term ‘Indian’ in official and public discourse in Singapore is, however, problematic in that it is employed as a unitary ‘racial’ category that refers to heterogeneous linguistic, cultural and religious groups originating from various parts of the Indian subcontinent, including what is now Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.