Orang Melayu Singapura | |
---|---|
Total population | |
545,498 13.5% of Singapore resident population (2020)[1] | |
Languages | |
Religion | |
Predominantly Islam 98.8% Minority: Christianity 0.6% • Irreligion 0.4% [2] | |
Related ethnic groups | |
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Singaporeans |
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Malay Singaporeans (Malay: Orang Melayu Singapura) are Singaporeans with general ancestry from the Malay world.[3] They constitute approximately 13.5% of the country's citizens, making them the second largest ethnic group in Singapore.[4] Under the Constitution of Singapore, they are recognised by the government as the indigenous people of the country, with Malay as the de jure national language of Singapore.
At the time of the arrival of British colonial official Stamford Raffles in 1819, the native Malays were the majority living on the island, which at the time had a total estimated population of approximately 1,000.[5] Another estimate placed that at the time of his arrival, the population was 120 Malays, 30 Chinese and some local tribes such as the Orang Laut.[5] From the 19th century until World War II, the Malays enjoyed favourable treatment whereby they were not resettled for labour and their traditional lifestyles were generally left undisturbed.[5] However, as the British needed "coolies",[a] this resulted in particularly lower rates of immigration as compared to the Indians and Chinese, with the latter notably becoming the majority ethnic group by the mid-19th century.[6]
Today, Malay Singaporeans often come from various Austronesian backgrounds throughout the Malay Archipelago such as the Malay, Javanese, Buginese and Minangkabau, which means that a Malay Singaporean may not necessarily be an ethnic Malay. Nevertheless, these groups are nonetheless tied together by a similar culture, customs, language and religion as Singaporeans. They are active in all spheres of Singaporean culture and society, with independent representation in areas such as media, politics and sport.
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