Singapore Tamil Youth Conference 2016 Toolkit Toolkit Final as of 17082016 | Page 37

Community Work for Tamils by Tamils
Author: Ms. A. Aarthi
BACKGROUND:
Needs of the Singapore Tamil community
Leadership
Education
• Ensuring
each
child • More youths to take
charge of community
achieves his academic
needs.
potential.
•
Greater integration of
• Support in career choice
different
community
and development.
partners
to
more
• Tuition and coaching
effectively
address
programs.
community needs
Family
• Improve
parent-child
relationships.
• Parents need to play a
more active role in their
children’s lives.
• Improve
domestic
environments
to
strengthen family ties.
Cohesion
• Reduce socio-economic gaps
within the community.
• Better understand the recent
developments in terms of
culture, language and religion.
• Improve
understanding
between ‘local’ Tamils and
newer Tamil migrants
Introduction
We need to consider and acknowledge the development of multiculturalism, the nature of migration, and state formation so
as to accurately uncover the specific issues and gaps within a particular community.
• In the case of the Tamil population, one of the longstanding issues is the perceived lack of cohesion. There are various
perceived separations to account for this lack of cohesion. This write-up will choose to focus the relationship between the
‘local’ Tamil Singaporeans and the newer Tamil migrants.
Community work in the past
Community Work today
• People may not have consciously engaged in ‘community work’ as it is
• Primary focus is on targeting the
known today. Our forefathers came from different backgrounds to
underprivileged. It has been incorporated
make a home out of a newly ‘immigrannation’. Community work was
into school curriculums to increase
thus carried out organically within and across the different ethnic
awareness of the marginalised and to
communities.
create a strong sense of civic responsibility.
•
Played a key role in improving social cohesion amongst communities.
• Preservation and development of our
•
This experience has led to the development of multiculturalism. This
cultural identity as Community work
has become a cornerstone of Singaporean identity. It is not just
strengthens the social fabric.
purported by state and political rhetoric but also used as discourse for
• We need to rally our resources to address
Singaporeans to distinguish themselves from the ‘newer’ immigrants.
the needs of our community. This bonds our
community.
•
Lack of cohesion between ‘local’ Tamil Singaporeans and newer Tamil migrants
• This perceived gap has developed over the past three decades and has not been dealt with in a sustainable or extensive
manner. Natural integration of the two groups has sometimes been taken as a given due to assumed shared co-ethnic culture.
• Due to the differences in the nature of migration of these two groups, there are cultural differences that meld together with
other stereotypical perceptions. Let us first briefly look at the history and composition of the Tami l population.
‘Local’ Tamil Singaporeans
Nature of Migration
Early 19th Century
• Tamils came as
convict workers,
soldiers, merchants,
traders and labourers
• Circular migration
20th Century
• Conditions of
indentureship were
lifted in
1910Tamils could
travel freely.
• Increase in economic
migration
• Singapore continually
attracted migrants
due to the stories of
success that was
circulated back at
home.
Identity Formation
Importance of shared experience
of nation-building
• Lived through key events that
shaped their sense of
belonging - British rule,
Japanese Occupation, merger
and independence, etc.
• Nation building, in a literal
and figurative sense, shaped
the formation of the
Singaporean identity.
Culture
• Mix of retention and fusion
• Thaipusam celebrated on a
larger scale here as compared
to Tamil Nadu.
Language
• Greater emphasis ‘proper’
Tamil than colloquial forms
Newer Tamil Migrants
Nature of Migration
Late 20th Century
• Temporary low-skilled workers.
• Foreign ‘talents’ (professionals)
Push Factors
• Better job opportunities,
education and quality of life.
Pull Factors
• Singapore’s pro- immigration
policy between 1990 and 2010.
• Many immigrate to join their
families or start new families
through intermarriage.
• Though the nature of migration
is similar, it not well anticipated
and thus have resulted in lack in
understanding between both
groups.
Identity Formation
Stronger Transnational
identity
• Closer links with India in
terms of kin relations.
• Attempts at adapting to
various aspects of
Singaporean identity
Culture
• Emphasis on different
festivals
• Closer affiliation with
Tamil movies
Language
• Greater emphasis on
more colloquial forms of
spoken Tamil
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