Sikh community may have to evolve and adapt, says Singapore professor

SINGAPORE: Sikh community institutions, organisations and gurdwaras which had traditionally defined Sikh culture may have to evolve and adapt, according to a Singapore Professor.

“They will find it increasingly more challenging to control and shape the narrative and markers of Sikh identity,” said Prof Tan Tai Yong, President of Yale-National University of Singapore College.

Tan, a Chinese-origin Singaporean, has studied Singapore Sikh community as an undergraduate and authored a book on the community in 1986.

“The question is: how to create spaces for a diversity of voices and new perspectives on how Sikh identities can be negotiated,” said Prof Tan at a lecture held as a part of the larger celebrations here for the 550th birth anniversary celebrations of Guru Nanak Dev.

Engagement with the youths, with their different views and priorities, will be the major challenge, according to Prof Tan. “The key is to get them (Sikh youths) interested and take some form of ownership in the preservation of Sikh religion, traditions and culture,” he pointed out.

They may want to do so in certain ways that may cause discomfort. For instance, more could be done to acknowledge the arts and creative fields as much as the Sikh community has acknowledged and supported successes in politics, business and other professional fields, he explained.

“As much as gurdwaras and community institutions play important roles in the shaping of Sikh identity, so too can film, art and fiction created by Punjabi Sikhs,” said Prof Tan .

Embracing the possibilities offered by outlets of creative expression can help expand the historical imagination of younger Sikhs, suggested the Chinese origin professor in multiracial Singapore.

The question is: how to create spaces for a diversity of voices and new perspectives on how Sikh identities can be negotiated PROF TAN TAI YONG, president of Singapore Yale-National University