Сингапурдағы индуизм: тарихы мен қазіргі жағдайы

Hindu religion and culture in Singapore can be traced to the 7th century AD, when Temasek was a trading post of Hindu Buddhist Srivijaya empire. A millennium later, a wave of immigrants from southern India were brought to Singapore, mostly as coolies and indentured labourers by the British East India Company and colonial British Empire. As with Malay peninsula, the British administration sought to stabilise a reliable labour force in its regional plantation and trading activities; it encouraged Hindus to bring family through the kangani system of migration, settle, build temples and segregated it into a community that later became Little India. There are currently about thirty main Hindu temples in Singapore. There were an estimated 172,963 Hindus in Singapore according to the 2020 Census constituting 5.0% of the Singapore's population. Almost all Hindus in Singapore are ethnic Indians (99%), with some who have married into Hindu families. Hinduism peaked at 5.5% of the total population in 1931. In Singapore, the Hindu festival of Deepavali is recognised as a national public holiday. Some non Indians, usually Buddhist Chinese, participate in various Hindu activities. Unlike various states of Malaysia and Indonesia, Singapore places no restrictions on religious freedoms of Hindus.

Year Percent Increase 1849 2.8% 1911 5.0% +2.2% 1921 4.6% −0.4% 1931 5.5% +0.9% 1980 3.6% −1.9% 1990 3.7% +0.1% 2000 4.0% +0.3% 2010 5.1% +1.1% 2015 4.96% −0.14% 2020 5.0% +0.04%

Population of resident ethnic group registered as Hindus 2020. The proportion of Indians following Islam, Christianity and Buddhism are relatively higher as the Singaporean Census calculate Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Sri Lankan etc under ethnic Indian Category. Ethnic Group Population of Resident Ethnic Group registered as Hindus Percentage Resident Ethnic Group registered as Hindus Percentage of Resident Population Total Resident Population of Ethnic Group Chinese 458 0.018% 75.36% 2,606,881 Malays 223 0.05% 12.94% 447,747 Indians 171,326 57.29% 8.65% 299,056 Others 956 0.91% 3.05% 105,410 Overall 172,963 5.00% 100% 3,459,093

Population of resident ethnic group registered as Hindus 2015. Ethnic Group Population of Resident Ethnic Group registered as Hindus Percentage Resident Ethnic Group registered as Hindus Percentage of Resident Population Total Resident Population of Ethnic Group Chinese 300 0.012% 76.84% 2,517,580 Malays 100 0.03% 11.88% 389,090 Indians 161,800 59.88% 8.25% 270,220 Others 400 0.403% 3.03% 99,300 Overall 162,600 4.964% 100% 3,276,190

Hindu religion and culture in Singapore can be traced back to the 7th century Hindu Srivijaya empire when Temasek was a small trading post. Vast majority of Hindus in Singapore are ethnic South Indians. The small numbers of non Indian Hindus are mainly Chinese and Malay women who were adopted by or married into Hindu families. There are 3 Hindu temples which are gazetted as national monuments of Singapore. The Sri Mariamman Temple was the first Hindu temple to become a national monument in 1973, the Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple in 1978 and the Sri Thendayuthapani Temple in 2014. Different communities have also established their own temples in Singapore. For instance, the Sri Lankan Tamil community established the Sri Senpaga Vinayagar Temple at Ceylon Road and the Chettiar community set up the Sri Thandayuthapani Temple at Tank Road. The North Indian community also established the Sri Lakshminarayan Temple, built in the North Indian style. In Singapore a number of non Indians, such as Buddhist Chinese, participate in a variety of Hindu activities, including praying to Hindu deities, donating money to the temple funds and participating in Hindu festivals like Deepavali, the fire walking ceremony, and Thaipusam. Certain temples, such as the Sri Krishnan Temple in Waterloo Street, or some Hindu temples in Yishun have also built up substantial followers among the Chinese community, who often visit these temples on their way to or from visiting nearby Chinese temples.

Some of the major Hindu festivals celebrated every year include Deepavali (Diwali), Thaipusam, Pongal, Tamil New Year or Varuda Pirappu, Holi also known as Festival of Colours and Thimithi or otherwise known as the Fire Walking Festival. Deepavali is the only Hindu religious public holiday in Singapore. The Hindus have also urged the government to make Thaipusam, a former public holiday, to be reinstated as a public holiday as the Christian and Muslim religions have two public holiday each.

Before the independence of Singapore in 1965, each religious group was having one to three religious public holidays with both Hindu festivals of Deepavali and Thaipusam as national public holidays. After the independence of Singapore, each religious group were asked, with the exception of the Buddhist religious group as there was only one Buddhist religious public holiday, to choose a religious public holiday of their own to be removed to reduce the overall number of public holidays in Singapore for Singapore to be competitive in the global market. Thaipusam was chosen to be removed as a public holiday by the Hindus. After the 1968 amendment of the 1966 Holidays Act, two public holidays were designated each for the Christian (Good Friday and Christmas) and Muslim (Eid al Fitr and Eid al Adha) religions while only one public holiday was designated to both the Hindu (Deepavali) and Buddhist (Vesak Day) religions. Subsequently there were calls from the Hindus to reinstate Thaipusam as a public holiday. In 2015, a petition was launched by educator Sangeetha Thanapal which attracted nearly 20,000 signatures. A rally was also planned in Hong Lim Park but was cancelled by the police.