BEING SINGAPOREAN PAKISTANI: HISTORY, ETHNICITY AND IDENTITY

Abstract

Among Singaporeans are individuals whose forefathers originated from the region of Punjab and North-West Frontier Province of British India during the British colonial era. These areas formed part of Pakistan with the Partition of 1947. This thesis examines issues related to the history, ethnicity and identity of these Singaporean Pakistanis. In relating the development of the original migrant community of Pakistanis in Singapore, I argue that the sense of community among subsequent generations has diminished. I also examine the factors that influenced the processes of identity formation and negotiation among subsequent generations of Singaporean Pakistanis, postulating their identity as one that is ‘creolised’ and that their identity as Singaporeans has superseded a diasporic one. Lastly, I examine the contestations of Pakistani identity in Singapore and how Singaporean Pakistanis – well into the third-generation today – negotiate their personal and communal identities within the multi-cultural and multi-religious make up of Singapore society.