Senior minister praises Sikh neighborhood’s contribution to Singapore

A senior Singaporean minister on Friday highlighted the Sikh neighborhood’s contribution to all fields of life in Singapore and appreciated their serving spirit by stepping ahead to assist others through the Covid-19 peak, as he opened the first-ever exhibition devoted to Sikh heritage within the nation.
The exhibition titled ‘Sikhs in Singapore – A Story Untold’ options greater than 450 artefacts from over 50 native and worldwide personal collections, institutional collections of 17 Sikh organisations in Singapore, in addition to Singapore’s National Collection and a few from the United States.
“The Sikh community has always practised that ‘Seva spirit’. Seva is, of course, part of Indian tradition, but the Sikhs elevated it to a central tenet – contributing without any expectation of personal reward, to the community, to society,” Tharman Shanmugaratnam, senior minister and Coordinating Minister for Social Policies, stated on the exhibition organised by the Indian Heritage Centre (IHC).
“We saw it last year during Covid as well, when the Sikh community stepped up in its efforts to help everyone in need. The Langar initiative, in particular, was an outreach initiative providing free food – in fact, at its peak during Covid-19, more than 10,000 meals a week were being provided. That is a very meaningful initiative as well,” Tharman stated on the occasion held nearly.
The minister famous that ladies have performed a central function within the Sikh neighborhood, and made important contributions – initially in Punjabi schooling, in passing on the craft and oral traditions, however over time, similar to the lads of their professions and in different areas, they too have performed a vital function.
“If we look at the Sikh community and its contributions across a whole range of activities and vocations in Singapore, it is that story of Chardi Kala,” he stated.
Chardi Kala is a crucial expression utilized in Sikhism for a mind-frame {that a} Sikh has to just accept and follow. It loosely means a “positive, buoyant and optimistic” angle to life and the longer term.
“Their contributions, of course in the military and the police, and in the professions, in sports and the arts, in all fields of life, have epitomised that spirit. And it has been both the women and the men,” he stated.
“When we talk about Chardi Kala…it has not just been about individuals showing their resilience, it is also about how people support each other.”

The Sikh neighborhood’s lengthy historical past in Singapore will be traced again to the late nineteenth century, with their arrival right here from Punjab, by way of the port of Calcutta, to hitch the Sikh Police Contingent underneath the British colonial administration on the time.
The neighborhood firmly established itself right here over time, and its members have lengthy been recognised for his or her societal contributions as troopers, policemen, volunteers, athletes and extra.

These identities solely scratch the floor of deep, wealthy historical past and tradition, which will probably be expounded and celebrated in Sikhs in Singapore – A Story Untold, the Indian Heritage Centre’s (IHC) first-ever exhibition devoted to the Sikh heritage, stated the IHC.
The exhibition, being held March 27 to Sept 30, 2021, provides a deeper understanding of this small, about 15,000, however distinguished Singapore Indian neighborhood by telling its lesser-known tales.