INTER-RELIGIOUS MARRIAGE AMONG SINGAPORE INDIANS

Abstract

This study on inter-religious marriage among Singapore Indians has highlighted tensions between what are upheld as traditional Indian values and the situation of Singapore Indians as a minority ethnic-cluster. The study probes beyond the normative appraisal of Singapore Indians as a homogamous category and treats them instead as belonging to various ethnic sub-groups. The most important factor when it comes to Singaporean Indian marriage is the limited availability of potential spouses within each Indian sub-group. From the experiences of the Indians in this study, it seems that this factor overrules some traditional considerations and is what spurs younger Indians to identify with alternative available Singaporean, though not necessarily Indian values. Thus, the study is an exploration of how an ethnic-cluster adapts to a demographic situation in which it is a minority. For younger Singapore Indians the urban environment has had the effect of diffusing the importance of traditional values such as caste endogamy. This is compounded by their absorbing new attitudes towards marriage such as placing more emphasis on emotional gratification. The effect of this is that the dynamics of Indian marriage are markedly different from the pattern of traditionally arranged marriages practised by the older generation of Singapore Indians. Cleavages between the values, lifestyles and expectations of younger and older Singaporean Indians have surfaced in this study. What also emerges is that Indians who breach an important aspect of subgroup endogamy when they choose a spouse from another Indian sub-group seem to feel that other more homogeneous features shared by the spouses mitigate the breach. Significantly, differences and breaches of the Indian cultural script are made less obvious by carefully constructed "front-stage" behaviour (cf. Goffman) and "impression management". This includes playing up elements of homogeneity, such as common cultural traits and class factors, to focus attention away from the heterogeneous elements in the liaison. These elements of homogeneity are more marked in some types of inter-sub-group marriages, such as Hindu-Tamil Catholic unions, and these inter-religious combinations tended to be the more frequently encountered Indian inter-religious marriage combinations. The role of religion in these religiously heterogeneous marriages differs according to the types of religious backgrounds of the couples. Hindus in this study, the majority of whom did not belong to the neo-Hindu movements (which tend to define religious boundaries more strictly and with evangelical zeal) claimed that they were religiously tolerant and that they allowed their spouses freedom of religious expression and a free-hand with the religious upbringing of the children. In practice, this claim was not always borne out and there are cases where Hindu spouses have found difficulty in living up to their promises or changed roles with respect to religion. Catholic and Muslim spouses mostly insist that their children take part in their religious rituals and follow their style of worship.