The Singapore Indian community is much smaller…

The Singapore Indian community is much smaller than the Chinese community in the late nineteenth century and less organized.

By 1880 there are only twelve thousand Indians, including Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, and Christians, each group with its own temple, mosque, or church.

South Indians tend to be shopkeepers or laborers, particularly dockworkers, riverboatmen, and drivers of the ox carts that are the major transport for goods to and from the port area.

North Indians are usually clerks, traders, and merchants.

Both groups come to Singapore expecting to return to their homeland and are even more transient than the Chinese.