Over the past few days, we were given the opportunity to tour around Singapore and learn about certain aspects of the city and its culture, or its three most predominant cultures, those being Malay, Indian, and Chinese. These three cultures coexisting was critical to the development of Singapore, as they all held different values as well. Malay people that went to Singapore were primarily Muslim. The Indian people which came to Singapore were primarily Hindu, with a sizeable Muslim population as well. Chinese people carried with them many religions, such as Daoism and Buddhism. Singapore happened to be a place where all of these people from all walks of life collided, and this continues to be reflected in some of the architectural and civil design choices made in the country. In government-subsidized housing, referred to as HDBs, people from all three of these predominant races in the country lived peacefully side by side. On the street, there would be a mosque next to a Hindu temple or a Buddhist temple next to a Hindu temple or a mosque next to the Buddhist temple. It was truly a stunningly beautiful sight to see so many cultures and religions thriving under one banner in one city-state.
One of the first religious buildings we saw was the historical Sultan Mosque, located in the Kampong Glam district. Tall and gilded, the mosque was quite the structure to behold in person. Shortly after we arrived in the area, the afternoon Adhan, or the call to prayer in Islam, sounded. For me, hearing the call to prayer creates an inexplicable sort of out-of-body experience, one that stops me in my tracks to pay respect to the religion and to the abilities of the muezzin to produce an intoxicating melody. I stood still in the unrelenting Singaporean sun and the punishing humidity, allowing the gentle melodies of the prayer to enter my ears.
We also had the opportunity to see the Buddha’s Tooth Temple, located in the Chinatown district. I was completely blown away by how large and incredibly ornate the structure was, with no expense being spared by the architects and engineers in regard to attention to detail. Every single aspect of the five floors which made up the building were filled with the most immense levels of artistry that I could imagine. Inside the temple, some music and chants were playing over a speaker system, harmonies resonating in the air surrounding me, seeming to slow down time. Maybe it is the size of the building and what it represents that was so humbling to me, but when I was inside, time seemed to slow.
The final religion mentioned in the first paragraph was Hinduism, brought to Singapore from India. We visited the Sri Mariamman Temple in Chinatown, located geographically nearby the Buddha’s Tooth Temple. The Sri Mariamman Temple is the oldest Hindu temple in Singapore, and it is a spectacle, not only for its historical significance, but for its beauty as well. A pagoda full of Hindu deities was erected above the entrance. The interior was open air and carefully crafted murals of important moments in the Hindu faith adorned the walls and ceiling. A large podium was located in the center of the temple, with smaller shrines and prayer areas surrounding the center. While the shrines and prayer areas themselves were in the shade, the paths leading to them were not and the heat was quite brutal on the day we visited. When we visited, there was a sort of ceremony occurring which involved a baby that could not have been much older than a few months. The parents were watching as a Hindu priest took the baby and held it to a golden altar, all the while another priest was singing with no instrumental backing.
The National Museum of Singapore was a notable visit and provided great insight into some more of Singapore’s culture. The exhibit pathing followed a very chronological order. The entrance of the exhibit on the first floor showed what early Singapore, or Temasek, may have been like; the middle of the exhibit showed Singapore’s founding by Sir Stamford Raffles and its role as a British colony as well as the nation’s experience under Japanese occupation; the end of the exhibit showed Singapore as an independent country under the leadership of Lee Kuan Yew and how the country plans to poise itself in the future. The most notable part of the exhibit to me was a large stone written in the Kawi script at the very entrance of the exhibit. The Kawi script is closely related to Baybayin, the original script that Tagalog was written in. The Kawi script derived from the Aramaic alphabet and the Brahmi writing system. This was of particular interest to me because my closest friend of many years happens to be very interested in linguistics and Southeast Asian culture. In my imagination, I could picture the two of us visiting this museum, looking at the stone, excited because of the historical implications that such a piece of writing has on as influential of a nation as Singapore. Towards the end of the primarily floor’s exhibit, there were a few video clips of the late great Lee Kuan Yew, a man who I personally deeply admire for his passionate speeches, skillful guidance, and intellectual foresight. He understood that Singapore’s multiculturalism was its greatest strength and encouraged all of the ethnic groups in the country to allow each other to live and let live.
