Singaporean Malay
 |
|
| Total population | |
|---|---|
|
670,680 15% of the Singaporean population (2015) |
|
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Singapore
|
|
| Languages | |
| English (medium of communication in schools and government) and Malay (official and lingua franca); Singlish (creole) | |
| Religion | |
| Predominately Sunni Islam. Also a very small minority practicing Shia Islam as well as Christianity, Buddhism, Animism and Atheism. |
|
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Ethnic Malays · Javanese · Baweans · Malaysian Malay · Other Indonesian peoples, Austronesian, Filipinos. |
Malay Singaporeans or Singaporean Malays (Malay: Melayu Singapura; Jawi: ملايو سيڠاڤورا) are defined by the Singaporean government and by intellectuals in the country using the broader concept of the Malay race, akin to the Malaysian definition. Although the Malays have inhabited the area that is now Singapore since as early as the 13th century AD, most of the Malays in Singapore today have their roots from Indonesia and Malaysia. Prior to the arrival of Raffles, there were many of the indigenous Malays living on the island under the Johor Sultanate. Most of the indigenous Malays came from the Malay Archipelago. As of 2015, Malay Singaporeans constitute 15% of the country's citizens, making them the second largest ethnic group in Singapore.
From the 19th century until World War II, the Malays enjoyed favourable treatment and disproportionate employment to colonial governmental posts; this was concurrent with a sharp increase in the Malay population due to immigration to Singapore from the Malay Peninsula, Java, Sumatra and the Celebes. Though coming from various background from the Malay world, nonetheless they are tied together by a similar culture, language and religion.
The seventeenth-century Malay chronicle, the Sejarah Melayu or Malay Annals, tells of the founding of a great trading city on the island of Temasek in 1299 AD by a prince from Palembang. Palembang was then the capital of the diminishing Srivijayan Empire. The prince, Sri Tri Buana, (also known as Sang Nila Utama) was said to be a descendant of Alexander the Great and an Indian princess called Shahru Al-Bariyah. Legend states that he renamed the city Singapura ("lion city") after sighting a strange beast that he took to be a lion, although there is no real historical evidence of this.
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