Is Hinduism in Singapore thriving? [Part 1/8]

SgHindu is now 10! To commemorate this, we donated a rare collection called the Encyclopedia of Hinduism to the Hindu Endowments Board (HEB) last Deepavali. Our dharma is vast, and we hope this volume enables future Hindu leaders to be inspired by the breadth of Hinduism rather than be overwhelmed by it. We believe that by documenting our experiences and issues as a Singaporean Hindu organizations and sharing it with all other loyal Hindus, we all could benefit as a collective.

We started out as a group of disenchanted Hindu youths in Singapore. If you were to Google “Hinduism in Singapore” today, you would find links such as the ones below that highlight the diversity of Singapore and factually present the history of Hinduism in Singapore.

Search results about Hinduism in Singapore.

Had you performed this search 10 years ago, however, the results would have been more sinister. You would have seen links from the Joshua Project, with a detailed analysis on how to bring Hindus to Christianity, or results about other religious groups slandering Hinduism. This intolerance was unacceptable to us. That’s how SgHindu began — we wanted to play a part in ensuring that Singaporean Hindus are represented accurately in the mainstream discourse.

This past decade has generally been a blessed one for Hindus in Singapore. For example, we have seen the growth of Hinduism in the online space. Temples are now posting regularly on social media and have big followings. We have also seen the emergence of institutions such as the Indian Heritage Centre and the Hindu Youth Network, which do a good job of representing Hindu ideas to the public. Our President, Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, is Hindu as well and writes a substantial article each Deepavali about an aspect of Hinduism. We have Krsna’s Free Meals that serves up to 5,000 migrant workers daily and has volunteers from all backgrounds and countries. Even culturally, there are many more contributions from the youth, such as Tattva and Damaru that are regularly reimagining folk culture and participating in public events.

As Singaporean leaders often point out, we are a little red dot. International religious waves can resonate positively on our shores. For instance, we have seen Hindus become resurgent and more aware of their faith both in India and in the West. We saw a British Hindu Prime Minister celebrating Diwali at Downing Street and various Hindus nominated in the 2025 Trump Administration, which will change perceptions here as well.

Rishi Sunak lighting diyas outside 10 Downing Street

On the other hand, the trans-national border of the internet and its associated religious/racial disinformation can also impact Singapore. This was demonstrated most acutely during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the Delta variant, believed to have originated in India, led to racist attacks in Singapore as well. Thankfully this has come down since the disease was treated as endemic and restrictions were removed. While other religious congregations were at the centre of severe outbreaks, Hindu temples and congregations were relatively unscathed during the pandemic. Hinduism’s focus on biology, nature and well-being, which is often understated, might have played a critical role in keeping us safe.

SgHindu is privileged to have documented the last 10 years of the Singaporean Hindu experience. We have been featured in the media about our endeavors and take pride in contributing to many discussions in Singapore about Hinduism.

Source: The Straits Times

Yet, while we have acted significantly in our capacity as volunteers to cover issues relating to Hinduism, the question remains: has the Hindu community flourished in Singapore in the last 10 years?

What do you think? Have we?

Continue Reading Part 2 here.