Ullas Kumar – Malayalees of Singapore & Kerala Part 2 | Chronicles of Old Singapore

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Ullas Kumar and I discuss the process of integration for new citizens and recent migrants from India. We talk about finding the balance between retaining practices from Kerala or India and accepting local ways and customs. When Ullas first came to Singapore, he thought that a 10 am meeting would only start an hour later, as in Kerala. The key for migrants is to be sensitive to local sentiments and find opportunities to interact with locals. Part 1 | https://youtu.be/blMAkxUJpQY Part 2 | https://youtu.be/JBbFsvM9jTU 00:00 Why Malayalam is not Taught as a Second Language 09:48 Malayalee Associations Formed by New Citizens 18:35 The Question of Integration 20:42 Singaporeans’ Sense of Time 23:07 Employment & Economic Issues 26:28 Bridging Locals & Migrants 35:36 How Locals can Help Integration 41:44 How New Citizens & Migrants can Further Integration I’m Dr Loh KS, the people’s historian. I’m interested in the history of Singapore and the lives of its people. In Chronicles of Old Singapore, I speak to people about their memories of Singapore before it became a global city today. We discuss three topics: 1. People and places. 2. Change and continuity. 3. The importance of heritage. As a historian, I try to stay true to the oral history method on a video format and social media platform. I let the interviewee speak, as the ‘voice of the past’ as Paul Thompson put it. No clickbait, no BS, no posturing. The aim is to canvas a wide range of voices on various aspects of Singapore history and heritage – physical, social, cultural, economic. Do like the video, share your memories below and subscribe to the channel for future episodes. Write to lohkahseng@chroniclesresearch.com if you have any of these stories to share: • Old places or kampongs. • Communities – their way of life & culture. • Childhood & schools. • Work or business. Support Chronicles of Old Singapore on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ChroniclesofOldSingapore Follow the channel on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551786759344 Spotify: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/loh-ks TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lks992002 Chronicles Research & Education is my research consultancy on the history of Singapore: https://www.chroniclesresearch.com/ Caveat: this is above all a podcast based on personal memory. As has been well-documented in oral history, memory is not always reliable and what is recalled here should not be taken as fact. However, as Alessandro Portelli noted, the subjectivity of oral history is also its great strength, and what is inaccurately remembered may point to how deeply meaningful the past is to people. #singaporehistory #memory #heritage #nostalgia #oralhistory #socialhistory #history #singapore