Indian Muslims in Singapore: a minority of the minorities

• Main Author: Amira Firzana Bte Mohideen Abdul Kader
• Other Authors: Emma Jane Flatt
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2024
• Subjects: Arts and Humanities; Indian; Muslims; Identity; Malay
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/174359
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The Indian Muslim community, a minority within a minority, is one that is diverse, and this diversity is understudied in the academic world with regards to their language, food, dressing, culture and more. In the hopes of addressing this gap, this research paper focuses on the Indian Muslims who have assimilated to the Malay community in Singapore by learning the language, cooking their food, and adopting their dressing during celebrations or prayers. Through a series of 33 interviews with family, friends, and the kind souls who volunteered for this study, I aim to discover the reasons behind this cultural and language shift that these Indian Muslims experience and how this has shaped/ affected their identity in Singapore. In this thesis, I argue that the policies introduced by the Singapore government post-independence, has allowed for Indian Muslims in Singapore to assimilate to the Malay language and culture, shaping their affinity and/or reservations towards their Indian heritage.