Out of curiosity, I googled “Singapore brahmin” to see what the results are. The following is merely a collection of notes, quotes and links of what is out there.
The first 4 search results are all related to the Singapore Dakshina Bharata Brahmana Sabha – founded in 1924 “as a platform to fulfil the religious and cultural needs of the Brahmins living in Singapore.” To join, you have to be a person of “South Indian Brahmin Origin”, and you can either pay S$100/year or a one-time payment of S$1,500 for a lifetime membership. You need to be introduced by two existing SDBBS members, presumably to vouch that you’re not a fake Brahmin. If you’ve been an Ordinary Member of the Sabha for 10 years before your 75th birthday, you can be deemed an Honorary Member and not need to pay the annual subscription.
Who is a Brahmin in Singapore? – 2007 Cambridge University Press, paper by Ashwin Parameswaran and Rodney Sebastian.
- “I don’t think diet has anything to do with being Brahmin.”
- “SDBBS membership is important; as long as SDBBS considers you a Brahmin you are, if not you are not.”
- “I used to consider eggs as vegetarian, but now I don’t.”
- The term Hindu describes incommensurable traditions ranging from Tantra to Hare Krishna
- “Many Indians born and raised in Singapore dislike new (though the definition of “new” is elastic) expatriates, especially those born and raised in India. So, though they admit that the latter are more orthodox and enthusiastic, expatriate Brahmins are often derided as 2nd class. It is also likely that many expatriates consider ‘locals’ unorthodox and unethusiastic, and in turn deride them as 2nd class or worse. This conflict illustrates how existing notions of identity can be destabilised by new arrivals.
SINDA must stay focused [2015] (asiaone.com)
“I think, among the Indian Singaporeans, caste is probably much less, but it’s still there. I mean I’m completely unconscious of people’s caste.
“And when I was president of SINDA for a few years I had a lot of staff in SINDA. It never occured to me that quite a few of them were Brahmins. But then people began to point out, why are you employing Brahmins in SINDA? I said, “Brahmins? Who is Brahmin?” And then they started giving me the names.
“So it surprised me and disappointed me that they were still looked upon as Brahmins and not Indian Singaporeans. And the fact that they were working in an organisation to lift the performance of all Indians was lost on them. They couldn’t appreciate that. So there is still some caste consciousness. But hopefully it’s less. And that trend of becoming less and less must not be arrested or made difficult by the new Indians coming to Singapore.” – S Dhanabalan
How many Brahmins in Singapore? [2003] (soc.culture.indian)
Authentic Iyer/Brahmin food in Singapore
“NMP Viswa used to work in Sinda. I’m told for 10 years. He will know Indians are not equal. There are those called Brahmins – they will not be in SINDA. It is the non-Brahmins who are in Sinda.” – Lee Kuan Yew [source]
“I used to talk to an Indian. He was the administrator of Agra and we were driving back to Delhi. This was in the late 1970s. So he was telling me he was writing a thesis on Shakespeare, a highly-educated man. At that time, English-educated, that generation. So I said, supposing I pretend as a caste, supposing I pretend I’m a Brahmin, high caste and I invite you to dinner, he said yeah I’ll come. You give me a good dinner, I’ll come. Now supposing I want to marry your daughter? He says that’s different. The most thorough inquiries will be made. So I said supposing I tell you I came from Calcutta and how you’re going to find me. He says no, you’ve got to live somewhere in Calcutta, you must have your family, your neighbours, your friends in Calcutta, we’ll find out. Then we’ll know what caste you belong to.” – Lee Kuan Yew [source]
“Why are Brahmins so bright?” – LKY [source]
Singapore after Taken Over by High Caste Indians 1 [2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11] (veritas-lux.blogspot.com)