Ceylonese / Sri Lankans in Singapore consist mainly of Singaporeans of Sri Lankan origin whose ancestors came to

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

before the independence of the island. With respect to ethnic group data in Singapore, Ceylonese / Sri Lankans were classified under Others up to 1970, whereupon they are classified as Indians.

Colonial period

The

Jaffna Jaffna (, ) is the capital city of the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jaffna District located on a peninsula of the same name. With a population of 88,138 in 2012, Jaffna is Sri Lanka's 12th mo ...

Tamils The Tamil people, also known as Tamilar ( ta, தமிழர், Tamiḻar, translit-std=ISO, in the singular or ta, தமிழர்கள், Tamiḻarkaḷ, translit-std=ISO, label=none, in the plural), or simply Tamils (), are a Drav ...

are predominantly large in number among the people who went to

and Malaya in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Ever since their arrival in Singapore, they were identifying themselves "Ceylonese". They dominated the bureaucracy in Singapore as the British preferred employing the Ceylonese as bureaucrats in many of their Asian colonies. Ceylonese Tamils made up an overwhelming majority in the civil service of British Malaya and Singapore prior to independence. In 1909, the Ceylon Tamils, who had grown in number to about 300 families, formed the Singapore Ceylon Tamils’ Association (SCTA). Sri Lankans in

and

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

formed the 'Lanka Regiment' of the Indian National Army, directly under Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. Former Singaporean Prime Minister

Lee Kuan Yew Lee Kuan Yew (16 September 1923 – 23 March 2015), born Harry Lee Kuan Yew, often referred to by his initials LKY, was a Singaporean lawyer and statesman who served as Prime Minister of Singapore between 1959 and 1990, and Secretary-General o ...

once said: Some Ceylonese-founded institutions from the colonial era still exist. The Sri Senpaga Vinayagar Temple was founded by Ceylonese Tamils on the appropriately named Ceylon Road
Ceylon Sports Club
was established in 1928 at its current premises along Balester Road and continues to function as not only a sports club but a social and charitable institution.

Post-Independence

In recent years, many Sri Lankans have been coming to Singapore. Sri Lankan domestic workers form a large number of the 150,000 maids in Singapore. Many students from Sri Lanka have also been coming to Singapore for further education. On July 31, 2010, the Singapore Ceylon Tamils' Association marked its 100th anniversary.

Notable Singaporeans of Sri Lankan descent

Politics * S. Rajaratnam -

Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore The deputy prime minister of Singapore is the deputy head of government of the Republic of Singapore. The incumbent deputy prime ministers are Heng Swee Keat and Lawrence Wong, who took office on 1 May 2019 and 13 June 2022 respectively. His ...

from 1980–85. Regarded as one of the founding fathers of independent Singapore *

Tharman Shanmugaratnam Tharman Shanmugaratnam (Tamil: தர்மன் சண்முகரத்தினம்; born 25 February 1957) is a Singaporean politician and economist who has been serving as Senior Minister of Singapore since 2019 and has also been C ...

- Current

Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam ( ta, ஜோசுவா பெஞ்சமின் ஜெயரத்தினம்; 5 January 1926 – 30 September 2008), better known as J. B. Jeyaretnam or by his initials JBJ, was a Singaporean politician, law ...

- Leader of the

Workers' Party of Singapore The Workers' Party (abbreviation: WP) is a major centre-left political party in Singapore and is one of the three contemporary political parties represented in Parliament, alongside the governing People's Action Party (PAP) and opposition Progr ...

from 1971 to 2001 *

Kenneth Jeyaretnam Kenneth Andrew Jeyaretnam (born 1959) is a Singaporean politician and hedge fund manager who has been serving as the secretary-general of the opposition Reform Party since 2009. He is the elder son of J. B. Jeyaretnam, a prominent opposition ...

- Current Secretary-General (leader) of the Reform Party in

* Vincent Wijeysingha - Current Assistant Treasurer of the

Singapore Democratic Party The Singapore Democratic Party ( abbreviation: SDP) is a politcal party in Singapore. The party was founded on 6 August 1980 by Chiam See Tong. During the 1991 general election, Ling How Doong and Cheo Chai Chen won Bukit Gombak SMC and Ne ...

Law *

K. S. Rajah Kasinather Saunthararajah (3 March 1930 – 17 June 2010), known professionally as K. S. Rajah, was a Senior Counsel and Judicial Commissioner of the Supreme Court of Singapore, Supreme Court of Singapore. Born in Penang, he came to Singapor ...

Senior Counsel The title of Senior Counsel or State Counsel (post-nominal letters: SC) is given to a senior lawyer in some countries that were formerly part of the British Empire. "Senior Counsel" is used in current or former Commonwealth countries or jurisdictio ...

and former Judicial Commissioner of the Supreme Court of

* Philip Jeyaretnam - Lawyer *

Eugene Thuraisingam Eugene Singarajah Thuraisingam (born 10 June 1975) is a lawyer from Singapore. He is the founder of the law firm Eugene Thuraisingam LLP, a law firm that specialises in international arbitration and criminal and commercial litigation. He is al ...

Human rights lawyer International human rights law (IHRL) is the body of international law designed to promote human rights on social, regional, and domestic levels. As a form of international law, international human rights law are primarily made up of treaties, ag ...

Education *

Lloyd Fernando Lloyd Fernando (31 May 1926 – 28 February 2008) was a Malaysian author and professor at the University of Malaya in the English Department. Life Lloyd Fernando was born to a Sinhalese family in Sri Lanka in 1926. In 1938, his family migrate ...

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

and

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

at the

University of Malaya The University of Malaya ( ms, Universiti Malaya, UM; abbreviated as UM or informally the Malayan University) is a public research university located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is the oldest and highest ranking Malaysian institution of highe ...

in the English Department *

Rohan Gunaratna Rohan Gunaratna (born 1961) is a Sri Lankan born political analyst specializing in international terrorism. He is the Director General of thInstitute of National Security Studies Professor Gunaratna has over 30 years of academic, policy, and op ...

- International terrorism expert *

Shan Ratnam Emeritus Professor Sittampalam Shanmugaratnam (4 July 1928 – 6 August 2001), also known as Shan Ratnam, was a Singaporean obstetrician and gynaecologist. He was professor and head of the department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of the N ...

- Professor and head of the department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of the

National University Hospital The National University Hospital (NUH) is a tertiary referral hospital and academic medical centre in Singapore, located in Kent Ridge. It is a 1,160-bed tertiary hospital serving more than 670,000 outpatients and 49,000 inpatients and serves ...

Arts *

Jacintha Abisheganaden Jacintha Abisheganaden (born 3 October 1957), known professionally as Jacintha, is a Singaporean singer, actress, and theater practitioner who studied at the National University of Singapore and received a degree in arts, majoring in English li ...

- Singer and actress; father is Sri Lankan Tamil * Natalie Hennedige - theatre director and dramatist; father is

Sinhalese Sinhala may refer to: * Something of or related to the Sinhalese people of Sri Lanka * Sinhalese people * Sinhala language, one of the three official languages used in Sri Lanka * Sinhala script, a writing system for the Sinhala language ** Sinha ...

* Neila Sathyalingam -

an classical Indian dancer * Sharmila Melissa Yogalingam - Singaporean award nominated writer * Roshni Karwal - television presenter; journalist

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sri Lankans In Singapore Ethnic groups in Singapore

Immigration to Singapore

Colonial period

Post-Independence

Notable Singaporeans of Sri Lankan descent

See also

References

External links