Understanding The Malayan And Indian Influences On The Culture Of Singapore

Over-View of the Singaporean Culture

Discuss about the Singapore Culture for Malayan and Indian.

The very name of the culture is derived from ‘Singa-pura’ meaning the city of the lion. It is pronounced as Singapore commonly from the fourteenth century. The main cultural traditions here can be classified as Malayan, Indian, Chinese, and to some extend it is traced in the Western culture. The country lies at the tip of the Malay Peninsula. It borders Malaysia, Indonesia, and Brunei (Allen 2013). The main island is flat and a hilly region surrounds the country. The climate of the country is tropical in nature and the humidity level is high with abundant rainfall. The country has a population of about three million. Among the total population near about 2.7 millions of people are the permanent resident of the country. In the state many languages are spoken. The national language of the country is Malay. The other four official languages are Malay, English, Indian, which is actually Tamil, and Chinese. English is the most used language there and it is the medium of instruction in the schools. The state is secured economically and their national culture concept incorporates the economic stability. The national flag is divided into equal red and white sections. The flag symbolises unity and purity. The white crescent moon and the five stars in the circle is the symbol of a nation that is growing with the ideals of democracy, progress, peace, equality and justice. The national anthem is in the language, Malay. Singapore emerged as a nation after the year 1965 (King and McInerney 2014). Prior to the age, the country was under the British rule and the British did very little to the integration of the population. The state of Singapore received its independence in the year 1965 and joined under the Union of Malay in 1963 but again was expelled in 1965. Singapore has cultural links to India, China, Malaysia and Indonesia. Singapore is highly recognised for its high raised buildings (Greenfield and Cocking 2014). The city is called as a green city but in most of the parts, it has a groomed greenness. Singapore follows a distinctly modern trend of architecture, which has its roots in the functionalism in the 1960’s culture. Singapore has a rich variety of food. The main ingredients include Rice, fish, Chicken, and vegetables. Singapore has a fully developed Industrial economy. The country mainly depends on the imports. The state has a very little source of natural recourses most of the products related to land resources are imported.

Analysis

Singaporean culture has a strong influence of Chinese, Malay and Indian cultures. It is due to the history of the place that it has a diverse culture. In the 18^th century, the country was only recognised as a popular free trading port and it attracted a number of Chinese immigrant some Indian and people from the parts of Europe (Turner Abercrombie and Hill 2014). The gathering of the people from the various parts of the world ended up creating a cosmopolitan culture. The ethnic races are still evident in the modern Singapore of today. Apart from the distinctions these people and their distinct cultures still holds its unique character and this mixture of cultures formed the Singaporean culture (Moore 2016). Singapore maintains a somewhat restricted art and cultural performances. Singapore has one of the rich cultures of the world. The National Day Parade in Singapore encapsulates and reflects the strength of the great success that the nation has been able to attain at the same time retaining its essence. As Singapore is the unique blend of western culture and Asian modernity it has better scopes for the citizens and for the people who visit Singapore with a commercial outlook (Gardner 2013). Manufacturing is the most important economic sector and it is followed by the financial and business services, commerce, transport and communication. The main exports are electronics, natural rubber, palm oil and refined petroleum products. About two-third of the population is employed who can be identified as the residential population. Global Culture validates the promotion of a specific kind of life style, consumption style, and identities. Rigorous advertisement campaigns are arrenged by the industries in the non-western world to create an ever-expanding market for their products by crushing the local markets. Therefore, this can be considered as the affecting ground. Traditionally, culture has been a vital factor in imparting and strengthening the identity of the people and the groups. The previous needs, traditionally satisfied by indigenous goods and services, are being replaced by new wants, requiring goods and services from other lands for the customer’s satisfaction.

Singapore was once a swampland and now has become a multicultural hub of commerce. The city gleams with abundant material goods. The city’s day-to-day life is governed with a series of rules that maintain the city’s cleanliness and the orders. Life in Singapore runs at a rapid pace, as the entire country is a simple city, a large city with numerous industries. The daily life of the city is strictly bounded by the hands of the clock. Most of the people have regular work, which runs from about 9:00 am to about 6:00 pm (Borgatti 2014). The people of Singapore usually are identified in two ways, one by their ethnicity and by their nationality. In this way, people hold their ethnic, linguistic and cultural identities. The societal pressure leaves no option but makes the people become very competitive to each other. More than just the name most of the people of the country is united by the language. Despite westernization, Singapore’s laws and orders are equal for everyone. In the city, the breaking of a law is not taken lightly. The International Relocation guide provides the citizen the needful practical information to live in the city. Life here is easy according to the locals. The conveniences and the social opportunities associated with the life here is plentiful. The code of conduct for the city is English and most of the products and conveniences of the western world is easily available in the country (Borgatti 2014). The city has become a fanciful destination for the person who seeks a high quality of living in a beautiful environment. The city has a busy working culture as many multinational companies have offices here, giving rise to a large work scope to the population (Pinar 2013). Singapore is mostly known as a materialistic culture. However, there for the young ones lives under the pressure of constant excelling in every field even from a very young age. The 95% of the local residential people appreciate the clean, safe, the efficient society. Singapore is also known for its peaceful political climate. Despite being known for a centralized and authoritarian culture, the type is considered as the pragmatic and rational and based on the rules and regulations.

Factors Influencing the Culture

Singapore feeds on a competitive open business environment that is corruption free. Core culture values and beliefs come into play in the communicative behaviours of the people. The culture of Singapore follows a strict hierarchical relationship in the society (Lantolf, Thorne and Poehner 2015). For them the concept of society is a composed ground where there are individuals belonging to different rank and standing. The history of Singapore dates back to the third century. From the ancient history, we come to know that the state was a vassal of the Chola Empire (Diener Inglehart and Tay 2013). The ancient kings named the city as ‘Sang Nila Utama’. In the year 1832, Singapore became the centre of the government for the Straits Settlement for Penang, Malacca, and for itself. The new and evolved Singapore has become the centre of expanding trade between East and West and has enabled a better way of trade by opening the Suez Canal in the year 1869. The site of the military action of the fourteenth century made Singapore embroiled with Thailand and Majaphit Empire. The fall of Singapore was the largest surrender for the British during the Second World War. In the year 1959, Singapore became the crown colony and in the year 1965, it became an independent republic country. Singapore’s population consists of roughly 77% of Chinese, 14% of Malays, 8% of Indians and 1% of the other descends (Bochner 2013). The original inhabitants of the state were the Malay fishermen, but the establishment of the British empire made the city a colony and many people from the various lands came in the city with the dream of establishing a better life. Instead of having many migrants, the racial groups of Singapore had retained their identities developing them as the integral part of the country.

The interactions between the culture helps to build a good business environment. There are many ways by which a particular culture can develop many ways to maintain the business culture with the other cultures. The exchanges of the business cards are a good way to keep relations growing. The global business meetings and the conferences are very helpful to maintain good business relations as in a global meet many participants belonging to various cultures gather in the meets to share their business ideas (Diener Inglehart and Tay 2013). The negotiation policies are vital tool in case of building good business relations. In Singapore, business is done at a rather slow pace or at a great speed. The Singaporean business people are polite and professional as well as they are tough negotiators. Singaporeans are generally open and cosmopolitan in their business outlook (Bagozzi et al 2014). The general advice to establish a good business relation would be better if one avoids indulging into the topics like religion, politics and the racial issues. Following the etiquettes while going for a business is also important information. The culture of Singapore was created to emphasise on the five official values, which includes the Nation, Family, Community, Harmony and Consensus.

Conclusion:

The culture of society reflects the core of a society. The values and the basic rules of the society are revealed by the cultural analysis of the society. Singapore being a multicultural society is rich in these aspects. The people and their habits also the daily life the habits of the particular country gives us a very subtle idea of how to deal with the culture. Singapore maintains a tight restriction on the grounds of art and cultural performances. Singapore is a secular immigrant country. In the country, one can easily witness religions like Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, and Christianity. The respect for the different religions and the personal beliefs are the important areas to follow and improve.

References:

Allen, V.L. ed., 2013. Children as teachers: Theory and research on tutoring. Academic Press.

Bagozzi, R.P., Wong, N., Abe, S. and Bergami, M., 2014. Cultural and situational contingencies and the theory of reasoned action: Application to fast food restaurant consumption. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 9(2), pp.97-106.

Bochner, S. ed., 2013. Cultures in contact: Studies in cross-cultural interaction (Vol. 1). Elsevier.

Borgatti, S.P., Mehra, A., Labianca, G.J. and Brass, D.J. eds., 2014.Contemporary perspectives on organizational social networks (Vol. 40). Emerald Group Publishing.

Diener, E., Inglehart, R. and Tay, L., 2013. Theory and validity of life satisfaction scales. Social Indicators Research, 112(3), pp.497-527.

Gardner, H., 2013. The theory of multiple intelligences1. Teaching and Learning in the Secondary School, p.38.

Greenfield, P.M. and Cocking, R.R., 2014. Cross-cultural roots of minority child development. Psychology Press.

King, R.B. and McInerney, D.M., 2014. Culture’s consequences on student motivation: Capturing cross-cultural universality and variability through personal investment theory. Educational Psychologist, 49(3), pp.175-198.

Lantolf, J.P., Thorne, S.L. and Poehner, M.E., 2015. Sociocultural theory and second language development. Theories in second language acquisition: An introduction, pp.207-226.

Milton, K., 2013. Environmentalism and cultural theory: Exploring the role of anthropology in environmental discourse. Routledge.

Montano, D.E. and Kasprzyk, D., 2015. Theory of reasoned action, theory of planned behavior, and the integrated behavioral model. Health behavior: Theory, research and practice.

Moore, B., 2016. 48. Privacy: Studies in Social and Cultural History.

Pinar, W.F., 2013. International handbook of curriculum research. Routledge.

Turner, B.S., Abercrombie, N. and Hill, S., 2014. Dominant Ideologies (RLE Social Theory). Routledge.