¹ Dusenbery, V. A. (1997). The Politics and Poetics of Recognition: Diasporan Sikhs in Pluralist Polities, American Ethnologist, 24 (4), p. 747CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Straits Times (Singapore), 3 and 4 November 1990.

² Tat Khalsa (‘true Khalsa’) is a term associated with groups and individuals who attempted to purify Sikhism and demarcate religious boundaries (especially from Hinduism) in Punjab from the late nineteenth century. The Tat Khalsa Singh Sabha was founded in Lahore in 1879 to rival the more inclusivist ‘Sanatan’ Singh Sabha in Amritsar.

³ Malhi, R. S. (1977). The Punjabi Newspapers and Sikh Organisations in Kuala Lumpur, Batchelor of Arts [B.A.] thesis, University Malaya [UM]; Kaur, Amarjit (1973). North Indians in Malaya: a Study of their Economic, Social and Political Activities with Special Reference to Selangor, 1880s–1940s, Master of Arts [M.A.] thesis, UM. See also Singh, Sarjit (1969). Some Aspects of Social Change in the Sikh Community in Singapore, B.A., University of Singapore; Singh, Satvinder (1994). Sikh Organisations and Sikh Identity in Singapore, B.A., National University of Singapore [NUS]; Sevea, Iqbal Singh (1999). The Evolution of Sikh Religious Institutions in Singapore, B.A., NUS; Kaur, Arunajeet (2003). The Role of Sikhs in the Policing of British Malaya and the Straits Settlements 1874–1957, M.A., NUS.

⁴ Lopo, M. S. (1971). Some Historical Notes. Sikhs in Malaysia, vol. I, Perai: LopogharGoogle Scholar; Highlights of a Century, 1873–1973; Lopo, M. S. (1976). Sikhs in Malaysia, vol. II, Perai: LopogharGoogle Scholar & Lopo, M. S. (1971). Sikh Cultural Customs and Traditions in Malaysia. Sikhs in Malaysia, vol. III, Perai: LopogharGoogle Scholar; Singh, Mehervan (1979). Sikhism—East And West, Singapore: FordGoogle Scholar; Singh, Mehervan (1990). From Village to City, Singapore: FordGoogle Scholar; Singh, Saran (2003). Sikh Gurdwaras of Malaysia and Singapore. An Illustrated History, Kuala Lumpur: Sikh Naujawan Sabha MalaysiaGoogle Scholar; and Gandharab, S. (1986). Early Sikh Pioneers of Singapore, Singapore: Singapore Khalsa AssociationGoogle Scholar.

⁵ Sandhu, K. S. (1970). ‘Sikh Immigration into Malaya during the period of British Rule’ in Ch'en, J. and Tarling, N. eds. Studies in the Social History of China and Southeast Asia. Essays in Memory of Victor Purcell 1896–1965, Cambridge: Cambridge University PressGoogle Scholar; Sidhu, M. S. (1981). Social Changes among Sikhs in Peninsular Malaysia, Malaysia in History, 24Google Scholar; and Sidhu, M. S. (1983). Sikhs in Peninsular Malaysia: Their Distribution and Occupations, Asian Profile, 11 (3)Google Scholar. See also numerous chapters in Sandhu, K. and Mani, A. eds. (1993). Indian Communities in Southeast Asia, Singapore: Times Academic PressGoogle Scholar.

⁶ Dusenbery, V. A. (1997). Diasporic Imaginings and the Conditions of Possibility: Sikhs and the State in Southeast Asia, Sojourn, 12 (2)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Dusenbery, The Politics and Poetics of Recognition.

⁷ Although see Rai, R. (2004). Race and the Construction of the North-South Divide amongst Indians in Colonial Malaya and Singapore, Journal South Asian Studies, 27 (2)Google Scholar; and Rai, R. (2004). Sepoys, Convicts and the ‘Bazaar’ Contingent: The Emergence and Exclusion of ‘Hindustani’ Pioneers at the Singapore Frontier’, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 35 (1)Google Scholar.

⁸ See, for example, Jain, R. K. (1970). South Indians on the Plantation Frontier in Malaya, New Haven: Yale University PressGoogle Scholar.

⁹ Metcalf, T. R. (2007). Imperial Connections: India in the Indian Ocean Arena, 1860–1920, Berkeley: University of California PressGoogle Scholar.

¹⁰ Ballantyne, T. (2006). Between Colonialism and Diaspora. Sikh Cultural Formations in an Imperial World, Durham: Duke University Press, p. 31CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

¹¹ Ibid. p. 32.

¹² Bose, S. (2006). Hundred Horizons: The Indian Ocean in the Age of Global Empire, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University PressGoogle Scholar; Enseng, Ho (2006). The Graves of Tarim. Genealogy and Mobility across the Indian Ocean, Berkeley: University of California PressGoogle Scholar.

¹³ For the Sikh religious context see McLeod, W. H. (1999). Sikhs and Sikhism, Oxford: Oxford University PressGoogle Scholar; and Oberoi, H. (1994). The Construction of Religious Boundaries: Culture, Identity and Diversity in the Sikh Tradition, Chicago: University of Chicago PressGoogle Scholar. For a wider regional context see Talbot, I. (2007). The Punjab under Colonialism: Order and Transformation in British India, Journal of Punjab Studies, 14 (1)Google Scholar.

¹⁴ McNair, J. (1925). Prisoners, Their Own Warders. A record of the convict prison at Singapore in the Straits Settlements, London: ConstableGoogle Scholar; Thong, Saw Chu (1956). Transported Indian Convicts in Singapore, 1825–73, B.A., UM. The Straits Settlements fulfilled the role of an Indian convict colony until 1873 when the European community of Singapore raised objections to the influx of such undesirables. The Andaman Islands then came to be so utilized.

¹⁵ Arasaratnam, S. (1979). Indians in Malaysia and Singapore, revised edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 35Google Scholar

¹⁶ Singh, Inder (1965). History of the Malay States Guides 1873–1919, Penang: Cathay PrintersGoogle Scholar; Bagoo, Abdul (1962). The Origin and Development of the Malay States Guides, Journal of the Malay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 35 (1)Google Scholar.

¹⁷ There is a copious literature on ‘martial race’ in India. See, for example, Omissi, D. (1994). The Sepoy and the Raj 1860–1940, Basingstoke: Palgrave MacmillanGoogle Scholar; MacMunn, G. (1931). The Martial Races of India, London: Sampson Low, Marston & Co.Google Scholar. In a Sikh context, see McCann, G. (2002). The Sikhs, the Indian Army and the Raj c. 1890–1920, M.Phil., Cambridge UniversityGoogle Scholar; Falcon, T. A. (1896). Sikhs: A Handbook for the use of Regimental Officers, Allahabad: Govt. PrinterGoogle Scholar; Barstow, A. E. (1928). The Sikhs: An Ethnology, Delhi: Govt. PrinterGoogle Scholar. On the Jats, the primary soldier-agriculturalists of Punjab, see Ibbetson, D. J. C. (1916). Panjab Castes, Lahore: Govt. PrinterGoogle Scholar.

¹⁸ Tarling, N. (1982). ‘The Merest Pustule’. The Singapore Mutiny of 1915, Journal of the Malay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (JMBRAS), 55 (2)Google Scholar; Kuwajima, S. (1991). Indian Mutiny in Singapore, Calcutta: Ratna PrakashanGoogle Scholar.

¹⁹ This was the ‘initial’ stage of imperial policing—the taming of the ‘wild frontier’—which yielded to a secondary stage when local cultural and linguistic knowledge became vital in the context of ‘native development’ imperatives. Anderson, D. and Killingray, D. eds (1991). Policing the Empire. Government, Authority and Control, 1830–1940, Manchester: Manchester University Press, pp. 6–8Google Scholar.

²⁰ National Archives of Singapore, Oral History Dept. [NAS, OHD], Chanan Singh Sidhu, reel 12.

²¹ NAS, OHD: Chanan Singh Sidhu, reels 6, 7, 13. Arkib Negara Malaysia [ANM], Selangor State Secretariat Files [SSSF]: 2963/1895: ‘Leave Rules and Engagement of Sikhs—Regulations for the Engagement of Men from India for the Perak Sikhs, and Terms of Service’.

²² NAS, OHD: Seva Singh, reel 2.

²³ NAS, OHD: Chanan Singh Sidhu, reel 8.

²⁴ Innes, E. (1885). The Golden Chersonese with the Gilding Off, London: Benteley, vol. II, pp. 73–74Google Scholar.

²⁵ Izzat is a very important term as rationale for recruitment into the Indian Army and migration. Loosely corresponding to ‘honour’, it was in fact rarely translated. It had complex social connotations. It was not a term for the individual per se, as one's izzat reflected on the wider kinship group. It was a fluid umbrella term incorporating status, wealth and respect. The sheer frequency of usage illustrates its position as a premier reason for enlistment and migration. Good conduct in the Army and the remittance potential of overseas work elevated izzat, and exerted pressure on (young) Sikh males to do either, or both, in the competitive socio-economic atmosphere of Punjabi villages.

²⁶ In 1895 exchange rates were fixed at 44 cents per Rupee in the Straits Settlements, which was later emulated all over the Federated Malay States. ANM, Military: 688/1895: ‘Privilege granted to Sikh Contingent—Remittances’; ANM, Perak: 2159/1895: ‘Privileges—Sikh remittances’. Remittances were nevertheless limited to a maximum of half a salary to ensure adequate subsistence, as police were inclined to remit almost all earnings.

²⁷ In 1946 a train from Amritsar to Calcutta was named ‘The Malayan Special’ given the numbers of Punjabis travelling onto Malaya from the port. Lopo, Highlights of a Century, p. 83.

²⁸ Malhi Punjabi Newspapers and Sikh Organisations in Kuala Lumpur, pp. 2–5.

²⁹ This ubiquitous term for the Sikh watchman has its etymological root in the Hindustani word jagānā—‘to awaken’.

³⁰ NAS, OHD: Tara Singh, reel 2.

³¹ See Hardiman, D. (1997). Feeding the Baniya: Peasants and Usurers in Western India, Oxford: Oxford University PressGoogle Scholar.

³² Darling, M. L. (1925). The Punjab Peasant in Prosperity and Debt, Oxford: Oxford University PressGoogle Scholar.

³³ Caton, B. P. (1999). ‘Sikh Identity Formation and the British Rural Ideal, 1880–1930’ in Singh, P. and Barrier, N. G. eds Sikh Identity: Continuity and Change, Delhi: ManoharGoogle Scholar; Islam, M. M. (1985). The Punjab Land Alienation Act and the Professional Moneylenders, Modern Asian Studies, 29 (2)Google Scholar.

³⁴ NAS, OHD: Chanan Singh Bal, reel 1.

³⁵ NAS, OHD: Mohinder Singh, reel 38.

³⁶ NAS, OHD: Gulzar Singh, reel 17. Most interviews carried out by the author and the NAS in the 1980s–1990s touched on lending. In few cases did morally negative sentiments, based on appeals to a Punjabi past, emerge. Lending was generally viewed merely as another means of income for struggling illiterate migrants.

³⁷ See Kratoska, P. H. (1975). The Chettiar and the Yeoman: British Cultural Categories and Rural Indebtedness in Malaya, Singapore: ISEAS, Occasional Paper no. 32Google Scholar; Pavadarayan, J. (1986). The Chettiars of Singapore: a Minority Community in Southeast Asia, Ph.D., Bielefeld University; Rudner, D. (1989). Banker's Trust and the Culture of Banking among the Nattukottai Chettiars of Colonial South India, Modern Asian Studies, 23 (3)Google Scholar.

³⁸ For example, ANM, SSSF: 4755/1918—‘Methods Adopted by Chetties in Lending Money, Kinta’.

³⁹ Interview with Malkiat Singh Lopo, Perai, Malaysia, 12 August 2005.

⁴⁰ ‘Hats off to Shylock Singh’ (poem) in Malayan Police Magazine, 2(6) June 1934, p. 152; NAS, OHD: Mohinder Singh, reels 2, 38.

⁴¹ Informant preferred to remain anonymous on this point.

⁴² NAS, OHD: Seva Singh, reel 1.

⁴³ For example numerous ‘cattle families’ were expelled from Anderson Road when land was required for cemeteries. NAS, OHD: Seva Singh, reel 13.

⁴⁴ NAS, OHD: Chanan Singh Sidhu, reel 14.

⁴⁵ NAS, OHD: Jaswant Singh Bajaj, reels 1 and 2. See Falzon, M. A. (2005). Cosmopolitan Connections: The Sindhi Diaspora, 1860–2000, Oxford: Oxford University PressGoogle Scholar; Markovits, C. (2000). The Global World of Indian Merchants 1750–1947. Traders of Sind from Bukhara to Panama, Cambridge: Cambridge University PressGoogle Scholar.

⁴⁶ Arora and Khatri were two Punjabi mercantile trading castes. In Punjab, the latter generally engaged in larger enterprises and boasted all the Sikh Gurus amongst their ranks. McLeod, W. H. (1976). The Evolution of the Sikh Community, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 100–101Google Scholar.

⁴⁷ The movement of numerous Arora Sikhs from Bangkok to exploit the economic boom created by the Korean War (1950–1953) also altered the business landscape. Calamity was to strike all these traders, however, when Indonesia (a huge market) ceased buying textiles from Malaysia (of which Singapore was then a part). North Indian traders made losses, paying for their disinclination for sustained diversification. This occurred even before the souring of relations with Konfrontasi (1962–1966).

⁴⁸ The movement of wives is a good indicator of the transition from a ‘sojourning’ to a ‘migratory’ phase. Normative Sikh domestic relations required marriage, procreation and residence in a virilocal, or more rarely, nuclear setting.

⁴⁹ Nathan, J. E. (1922). The Census of British Malaya 1921, London: Dunstable & Watford, pp. 216–217Google Scholar.

⁵⁰ Vlieland, C. A. (1932). Report on the 1931 Census of Malaya, London: Crown Agents for the Colonies, p. 207Google Scholar.

⁵¹ NAS, OHD: Mehervan Singh, reel 48.

⁵² Mobility between India and Singapore was relatively free, legally and logistically, until Singapore's 1953 immigration restrictions stemmed the flow of (especially unskilled) migrants from outside Malaysia.

⁵³ Ramgarhia denotes a Sikh ‘caste’ forged in the eighteenth century ‘Misl’ period of Sikh history. The Lohar, Raj and Tarkhan communities formed this grouping of artisanal Sikhs. See McLeod, W. H. (1979). ‘Ahluwalian and Ramgarhias’, Journal of South Asian Studies, 4, pp. 79–89Google Scholar.

⁵⁴ Uniquely, therefore, the nascent growth of some partial concept of ‘class’, within and in addition to ‘caste’, developed in Colonial East African Sikh communities. See McCann, G. (2008). Sikh Communities in Southeast Asia and East Africa, c. 1870–1970, Ph.D., Cambridge University, pp. 179–181Google Scholar.

⁵⁵ NAS, OHD: Chanan Singh Sidhu, reels 7 and 13.

⁵⁶ Shanghai Star, 23 May 2002; Wakeman, F. (1995). Policing Shanghai 1927–37, Berkeley: University of California Press, pp. 131–132Google Scholar.

⁵⁷ ‘Bengali Devils’. Sikhs in Malaya were often known as ‘Bengalis’, perhaps because almost all began their trips to Malaya from Calcutta. See Kaur, The Role of Sikhs in the Policing of British Malaya, pp. 163–173 on the problems this caused in census enumeration.

⁵⁸ NAS, OHD: Seva Singh, reel 7; Lee Tian Soo, reel 7; Soh Chuan Lam, reel 8.

⁵⁹ NAS, OHD: Niranjan Singh, reel 59.

⁶⁰ The Committee for acquiring the Central Sikh Temple site in Singapore was actually led by a Sindhi. Funds for the 1933 Manila gurdwara were donated by a Sindhi. Makovits The Global World of Indian Merchants, pp. 48, 255.

⁶¹ David, M. K. (2001). The Sindhis of Malaysia: A Socio-Linguistic Study, London: Asean Academic Press, p. 27Google Scholar.

⁶² Oriental and India Office Collection, British Library: L/WS/2/44: ‘Notes on Sikhs’; Elphick, P. (1995). Singapore. The Pregnable Fortress: a Study in Deception, Discord and Desertion, London: CoronetGoogle Scholar.

⁶³ Toye, H. (1989). The INA, 1941–1945, Indo-British Review, 16 (1)Google Scholar; NAS, OHD, Joginder Singh, reel 9; Mehervan Singh, reel 18; Gulzar Singh, reel 9; Ahmed Khan, reel 2; Kanichar Raghava Menon, reels 4 and 5; Girishchandra Kothari, reel 10.

⁶⁴ They were replaced as elite military police by the Gurkhas, whose loyalty remained unquestioned. The Gurkhas thus became the primary elite military servants during the Malayan Emergency. Jeffries, C. (1952). The Colonial Police, London: Max Parrish, p. 82Google Scholar; Jackson, R. (1991). The Malayan Emergency. The Commonwealth Wars 1948–66, London: Routledge, p. 17Google Scholar.

⁶⁵ Census of India 1881, vol. 1, book 1, p. 108. The Khalsa is the Sikh religious brotherhood established by Guru Gobind Singh in 1699.

⁶⁶ The short-lived Pardesi Khalsa (1918–1922) and Khalsa Parkash (1919–1920) allied themselves to the rival Majhail and Malwai associations of Kuala Lumpur. Malhi Punjabi Newspapers and Sikh Organisations in Kuala Lumpur, pp. 4–16.

⁶⁷ The major ‘Sikh’ Districts (British and Princely) at the beginning of the twentieth century were therefore: Manjha—Gujranwala, Sialkot, Gurdaspur, Lahore, Amritsar, Kapurthala, Hoshiapur and Jullundur. Malwa—Ferozepore, Ludhiana, Patiala, Nabha, Maler Kotla, Jindh, Ambala and Kalsia.

⁶⁸ In 1909 a dispute in the Malay States Guides in Penang prompted the authorities to split the Malwais and Majhails into separate companies. Inder Singh, History of the Malay States Guides, pp. 43–45.

⁶⁹ Mehervan Singh Sikhism—East And West, p. 42.

⁷⁰ Satvinder Singh Sikh Organizations and Sikh Identity in Singapore, p. 56.

⁷¹ For large gurpubhs, however, most Sikhs would gather at the CST or Silat Road Temple.

⁷² Yong, Tan Tai (1988). Singapore Khalsa Association, Singapore: Times Books, p. 27Google Scholar, saw synergy in the body, which was sometimes accurate, although is contradicted by informants interviewed by Satvinder Singh, Sikh Organisations and Sikh Identity in Singapore, pp. 15, 69;and Ibrahim, B. (1981). A Study of the Sikh Community in Singapore, Master of Social Science, NUS, p. 51.

⁷³ The plan was to bring all associations in the Municipality under central management and utilize each association for a specific function. The CST was to be the sole temple, the Khalsa Dharmak Sabha (Niven Road) would become the Khalsa English School, while the SGSS (Wilkie Road) would become the Khalsa Punjabi School. The Pardesi Khalsa Dharmak Diwan (Kirk Terrace) would run a Punjabi Press and Library, and the Khalsa Jiwan Sudhar Sabha (Kerbau Road) would be the sports and recreation facility. The Silat Road Gurdwara would be used to house widows, orphans and the elderly. Success was within grasp when the KDS and SGSS handed over their title deeds, however the PKDD refused, at which point the accord crumbled. Mehervan Singh Sikhism—East And West, p. 45; Singh, Jaswant (1971). ‘Sikh Organisation and Leadership Problems’ in Seminar on Sikhism in Contemporary Singapore, University of Singapore, pp. 3–4Google Scholar.

⁷⁴ Juergensmeyer, M. (1982). Religion as Social Vision: The Movement against Untouchability in Twentieth Century Punjab, Berkeley: University of California PressGoogle Scholar.

⁷⁵ Singh, I. P. (1958). A Sikh Village, Journal of American Folklore, 71 (281), pp. 485–486CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

⁷⁶ Mazbhi or ‘devoted’ is an honourific term for ‘untouchable’ Sikhs in recognition of their services in removing the martyred body of Guru Tegh Bahadur from Chandni Chowk, Delhi, in 1675.

⁷⁷ Interview with Mehervan Singh cited in Satvinder Singh Sikh Organizations and Sikh Identity in Singapore, p. 56.

⁷⁸ In Punjabi marriage, the importance of caste endogamy often outweighed religion. A Khatri Sikh often preferred union with a Khatri Hindu than a Jat Sikh. This supports the idea of the often erroneous fetishization of religion as a discursive category in South Asian studies. See McLeod, The Evolution of the Sikh Community, pp. 100–101; Oberoi, H. (1990). ‘From Ritual to Counter-Ritual: Rethinking the Hindu-Sikh Question, 1884–1915’ in O'Connell, J. T. et al. ., eds Sikh History and Religion in the 20^th Century, Toronto: University of Toronto, p. 57Google Scholar.

⁷⁹ Although a few prominent Jat families and Sindhis also attached themselves to the Sabha.

⁸⁰ This was facilitated by the larger disposable incomes of many Sikh merchant families.

⁸¹ Ballard, R. (1989). Differentiation and Disfunction Amongst the Sikhs in Britain’ in Barrier, N. G. and Dusenbery, V. A. eds The Sikh Diaspora: Migration and Experience Beyond the Punjab, Delhi: Manohar, p. 232Google Scholar; Interview with Paguman Singh, Perai, Malaysia, 13 August 2005.

⁸² Interview with Malkiat Singh Lopo, Perai, Malaysia, 14 August 2005.

⁸³ Particularly as the eclectic ceremonies devised by Harnam seemed to contain ‘Hindu’ characteristics.

⁸⁴ Ibrahim, A Study of the Sikh Community in Singapore, pp. 104–128.

⁸⁵ NAS, OHD: Mohinder Singh, reel 34. It was originally called the Sikh Missionary Tract Society. During the Occupation the society was forced to become dormant, and re-emerged in 1946 as the SMSM. Its founders were members of the Khalsa Dharmak Sabha. Mehervan Singh Sikhism—East And West, p. 70.

⁸⁶ These included The Practical Utility of Sikh Ideals; Urgent Need of Today; Sikhs and Peace; Sikhism on International Unity.

⁸⁷ Mehervan Singh, Sikhism—East And West, p. 70

⁸⁸ Ibid., p. 49.

⁸⁹ NAS, OHD: Mehervan Singh, reel 30.

⁹⁰ See especially Oberoi, The Construction of Religious Boundaries. A good synopsis of the debates and historiography on this formative period, and ‘Sikh Studies’ more generally, can be found in Ballantyne, Between Colonialism and Diaspora, pp. 1–86.

⁹¹ The panj kakar, or ‘5Ks’, are the obligatory adornments of Khalsa Sikhs as decreed by the tenth and final personal Guru of the Sikh religion, Guru Gobind Singh, on his initiation of the Khalsa in 1699. They are kesh (uncut hair), kirpan (dagger), kara (steel bracelet), kangha (comb) and kachh (shorts).

⁹² Samelans are religious/cultural camps which teach Punjabi, and Sikh history, culture and religion. For details of the Sewaks samelans see Sevea The Evolution of Sikh Religious Institutions in Singapore, p. 44. From the 1960s Singaporean Sikhs had taken advantage of Sikh Naujawan Sahba Malaysia samelans, which occurred periodically around the peninsular.

⁹³ The Rehat Maryada was the ‘authorized’ version of a Sikh ‘code of conduct’ which was finalized in 1950 by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee.

⁹⁴ ‘3HO’ is the ‘Healthy, Happy, Holy Organisation’ led by Harbhajan Singh Khalsa Yogiji based in New Mexico. It aims at a renaissance in ‘Sikh Dharma’, particularly in the ‘western hemisphere’, and has attracted numerous gora converts in North America. It has become a controversial organization, particularly as Harbhajan has taken the title ‘Siri Singh Sahib’, which has been bestowed only on the jathedar of the Akal Takht. It is seen by some as a sect, or even cult. See the 3HO website http://www.3ho.org/ [accessed 2 February 2011], and the work of V. A. Dusenbery, for a scholarly analysis.

⁹⁵ It was only repeated in 1999 for the 300^thBaisakhi (anniversary of the initiation of Khalsa).

⁹⁶ Satvinder Singh, Sikh Organisations and Sikh Identity in Singapore, pp. 30, 72.

⁹⁷ Ibrahim, A Study of the Sikh Community in Singapore, p. 136.

⁹⁸ Dusenbery, Diasporic Imaginings and the Conditions of Possibility, p. 240.

⁹⁹ It became a subordinate body of the Ministry of Community Development.

¹⁰⁰ ‘New Look at Religious Knowledge as a Compulsory Subject’, Straits Times, 21 March 1989.

¹⁰¹ ‘Sikh Community Receives Assurances from Lee Kuan Kew’, Straits Times, 18 February 1991.

¹⁰² A secondary school principal, he was the Government appointee and Chairman of the SAB from 1989 until 1995 when he resigned having served the maximum term permitted.

¹⁰³ Singh, Ajmer (1996). ‘Developing a Sense of Awareness of the Need and Importance of the Punjabi Language’, Paper for Sikh Welfare Society Seminar, Kelab Aman, Kuala Lumpur, 17 March.

¹⁰⁴ Sandhu, K. S. (1992). ‘Historical Role of the Sikhs in the Development of Singapore’ in International Conference cum Exhibition on Punjabi-Sikh Heritage, Singapore 5–7 June.

¹⁰⁵ Interview with Jagjeet Singh, Siri Guru Singh Sabha Gurdwara, Pahurat, Bangkok, 10 August 2005. There were also complaints that the paucity of such teachers led to ‘lax’ recruitment, that poor Indian gianis could easily find local work in the numerous local temples, even if fired from one.

¹⁰⁶ NAS, OHD: Mohinder Singh, reel 34; Mehervan Singh Sikhism East and West.

¹⁰⁷ The historic Khalsa Punjabi School run by the SKA continued to be run separately.

¹⁰⁸ See published proceedings of International Conference cum Exhibition on Punjabi-Sikh Heritage, Singapore 5–7 June 1992.

¹⁰⁹ They reflected the didactic work to the north of the Sikh Welfare Society, Malaysia, Sikh Naujawan Sabha Malaysia, and Sant Sohan Singh Ji Melaka Memorial Society. See, for example, the detailed panacea extolled in Sikh Welfare Society, Malaysia. ‘Report of Seminar, 31 Aug. 1979—2 Sept. 1979, KL’; Also Souvenir Volume, Sant Sohan Singh Ji Melaka Memorial Society (c. 1985).

¹¹⁰ ‘Asian Values’ became an important rallying call for both ‘national unity’ and as resistance to the attractions of the West, which were feared to be exacerbated by English language influence. See Harper, T. N. (1997). ‘Asian Values’ and Southeast Asian Histories, The Historical Journal, 40 (2)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

¹¹¹ For example, ‘Sikhs Praised again for Self-Help Plans’, Straits Times, 8 June 1992.

¹¹² Lee, R. M. L. (1988). Patterns of Religious Tension in Malaysia, Asian Survey, 28 (4), pp. 413–414CrossRefGoogle Scholar. There were also squabbles within the religiously diverse group, particularly over Christian conversion of Hindu plantation workers.

¹¹³ Principally the ‘CMIO’ demarcation of Chinese, Malay, Indian and Other categories.

¹¹⁴ Dusenbery notes the metaphor of a ‘rope’ in which the Singaporean nation was only as strong as its mutually dependent individual racial strands. It has been a powerful rhetorical tool in Singapore. Dusenbery, The Politics and Poetics of Recognition: Diasporan Sikhs in Pluralist Polities, p. 744. Also p. 752 on ‘corporatism’ and the Singaporean state.

¹¹⁵ Under the Group Representation Constituency scheme, formulated in 1988, a slate of four candidates in a constituency was to include one non-Chinese. The fact that Singh was included in the ‘Indian’ numbers rather than specifically as a Sikh provoked a few grumbles.

¹¹⁶ Prime Minister, Goh Chok Tong and Minister for Community Development, Yeo Cheow Tong wrote the principal goodwill messages for the International Conference cum Exhibition on Punjabi-Sikh Heritage. Deputy PM, B.G. Lee Hsien Loong delivered its keynote speech.

¹¹⁷ Speech by Lee Kuan Yew quoted in Barr, M.D. (2000). Lee Kuan Yew: The Beliefs Behind the Man, Richmond: Curzon, p. 154Google Scholar. He was probably referring to Jamit Singh, the mona (shaven) union leader of dock workers in Singapore, who was banished from PAP. See Liew Kai Khiun (2004). The Anchor and the Voice of 10,000 Waterfront Workers: Jamit Singh in the Singapore Story (1954–1963), Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 35(3).

¹¹⁸ Satvinder Singh Sikh Organisations and Sikh Identity in Singapore, p. 67, note 60. Compared with 46 per cent of the over-fifties.

¹¹⁹ NAS, OHD: Seva Singh, reel 11.

¹²⁰ Lopo, Highlights of a Century, pp. 85–6.

¹²¹ Interview with Malkiat Singh Lopo, Perai, Malaysia, 12 August 2005. Due to its politicized nature it was not sold, rather distributed free to gurdwaras in Malaysia (of which Singapore was a federal part, 1963–1965), where it was eagerly devoured. As such, its producers were constantly short of funds, with the result that occasionally it was handwritten rather than printed.

¹²² For journalistic accounts see Tully, M. and Jacob, S. (1986). Amritsar. Mrs Gandhi's Final Battle, second edition, London: PanGoogle Scholar; Naipaul, V. S. (1998). ‘The Shadow of the Guru’ in Naipaul, V. S., India. A Million Mutinies Now, London: VintageGoogle Scholar. For decent scholarly accounts of Sikh militancy in the 1980s India see Mahmood, C. K. (1996). Fighting for Faith and Nation. Dialogues with Sikh Militants, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania PressGoogle Scholar; Kapur, R. A. (1986). Sikh Separatism: The Politics of Faith, London: Allen & UnwinGoogle Scholar. The diasporic angle is well covered by Tatla, D. S. (1999). The Sikh Diaspora. The Search for Statehood, London: University College London PressGoogle Scholar.

¹²³ Axel, B. K. (2001). The Nation's Tortured Body: Violence, Representation and the Formation of a Sikh ‘Diaspora’, Durham: Duke University PressGoogle Scholar; Fenech, L. E. (2000). Martyrdom in the Sikh Tradition: Playing the ‘Game of Love’, Delhi: Oxford University PressGoogle Scholar.

¹²⁴ Such ideas have been highly controversial. The scholarship of Oberoi and McLeod (which posited non-Khalsa heterodoxy in the Panth until the late nineteenth century and beyond) has been vehemently criticized by ‘Khalsacentric’ Sikhs. See the acerbic Mann, J. S. et al. ., eds (1995). The Invasion of Religious Boundaries. A Critique of Harjot Oberoi's Work, Vancouver: Canadian Sikh Study and Teaching SocietyGoogle Scholar; Singh, B. Discovering W. H. McLeod and His Work on Sikhism http://www.globalsikhstudies.net/articles/BaldevSingh.htm [accessed 2 February 2011]. Such polemics were framed in terms of debate, but unfortunately also descended into personal attacks, especially on Oberoi, a Sikh, who was said to have ‘betrayed’ his ‘people’.

¹²⁵ See the controversy initiated by Fox, R. (1988). Lions of the Punjab. Culture in the Making, Berkeley: University of California Press, which placed colonial or ‘externalist’ initiative at the heart of Sikh identity formation. It was successfully refuted by Oberoi and Anil Sethi. The importance of ‘indigenous’ discourses and their contestations on Sikh identity is best described in relation to the ‘Ham Hindu Nahin’ controversy by Jones, K. W. (1973). Ham Hindu Nahin: Arya-Sikh Relations, 1877–1905, Journal of Asian Studies, 32 (3)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

¹²⁶ Hagendoorn, L. (1993). Ethnic Categorization and Outgroup Exclusion: Cultural Values and Social Stereotypes in the Construction of Ethnic Hierarchies, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 16 (1), pp. 27–51CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

¹²⁷ Even Sikhs on passage through Haryana to watch the ASEAN games were subjected to humiliating searches. NAS, OHD: Mehervan Singh, reel 57.

¹²⁸ NAS, OHD: Mehervan Singh, reel 67.

¹²⁹ NAS, OHD: Niranjan Singh, reel 31.

¹³⁰ Niranjan Singh called accusations of drugs apparently found in the Golden Temple compound as ‘the damndest lie of all’. Moreover, ‘illegal’ weapons were licensed as historical artefacts. Hypocritically, the Government failed to scrutinize the much larger scale weapon-trafficking on the Indo-Pakistani border. NAS, OHD: Niranjan Singh, reel 31.

¹³¹ NAS, OHD, Mehervan Singh, reel 57. Udham Singh was the ‘martyr’ who assassinated the ex-Lieutenant-Governor of Punjab, Michael O'Dwyer, in 1940. See Fenech, L. E. (2002). Contested Nationalisms; Negotiated Terrains: The Way Sikhs Remember Udham Singh ‘Shahid’, Modern Asian Studies, 36 (4)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

¹³² Interview with Sodhi Singh, Seberang Jaya, Malaysia, 14 August 2005.

¹³³ Satvinder Singh, Sikh Organisations and Sikh Identity in Singapore, p. 77.

¹³⁴ Ibid.

¹³⁵ An auspicious event for Sikhs, an Akhand Path is a continuous recital of the Guru Granth Sahib. Cmd. 21 of 1989 the White Paper on ‘Maintenance of Religious Harmony’, Paras. 25–28. Equally, some Hindu temples held remembrance gatherings for Indira Gandhi.

¹³⁶ Interview with Harjit Singh Sidhu-Brar cited in Sevea, The Evolution of Sikh Religious Institutions in Singapore, p. 51.

¹³⁷ ‘Sikh leaders warned not to create tension’, Straits Times, 11 January 1989. Also ‘Sikh leaders warned against action that will create tension’, Business Times, 11 January 1989.

¹³⁸ Cmd. 21 of 1989 the White Paper on ‘Maintenance of Religious Harmony’, Para. 28.

¹³⁹ NAS, OHD: Chanan Singh Sidhu, reel 17; Tara Singh, reel 4.

¹⁴⁰ Dusenbery, The Politics and Poetics of Recognition, pp. 741–743.

¹⁴¹ Lopo Some Historical Notes, pp. 154–160.

¹⁴² For example, during the last episode of the popular Singaporean drama ‘Crime & Passion’ (13^th July 1991) a Sikh was shown smoking, one of the kurehat (forbidden) activities. Basic didactic literature dominates the historical literary output of Southeast Asia's Sikhs.

¹⁴³ Termed a ‘Jat Overseas Nexus’ in Tatla, D. S. (2000). Rural Roots of the Sikh Diaspora, International Journal of Punjab Studies, 7 (2), p. 368Google Scholar.

¹⁴⁴ Johnstone, H. (1979). The Voyage of the Komagata Maru: the Sikh Challenge to Canada's Colour Bar, Oxford: Oxford University PressGoogle Scholar; Deol, G. S. (1966). Voyage of the Komagata Maru and the Ghadr Movement, People's Path, 2 (8)Google Scholar.

¹⁴⁵ As a Malwai he had problems prising cash from Majhails in Malaya.

¹⁴⁶ Interview with Malkiat Singh Lopo, Perai, 14 August 2005.

¹⁴⁷ Bose, S. (2006). Hundred Horizons: The Indian Ocean in the Age of Global Empire, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University PressCrossRefGoogle Scholar.

¹⁴⁸ Dusenbery, Diasporic Imaginings and the Conditions of Possibility, p. 245

¹⁴⁹ See Ballantyne, T. (2006). ‘Displacement, Diaspora, and Difference in the Making of Bhangra’ in Ballantyne, T. Between Colonialism and Diaspora, pp. 121–159 for an excellent treatment of bhangra and identity in Britain.