Sikhs in Singapore celebrate Baisakhi, launch professorship in Sikh studies

Sikhs in Singapore celebrated the harvest festival of Baisakhi with the launch of first Sikh professorship in the city-state and Southeast Asia an initiative to raise the number of women in community leadership roles.

The Central Sikh Gurdwara Board (CSGB) on Thursday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National University of Singapore (NUS) on a visiting professorship in Sikh studies aimed at promoting academic scholarship in this field both in Singapore and abroad.

This is the first Sikh professorship to be set up in Singapore and Southeast Asia. The CSGB said it is aiming to raise S$1.2 million for an endowment fund to support the visiting professorship. Donations will be matched dollar-for-dollar by the government.

Senior Minister of State for Defence, Heng Chee How, joined the Sikh community in their Baisakhi celebrations and witnessed the signing of the MoU.

Besides, a panel of 21 Sikh women from diverse backgrounds -- the EnKaur Working Committee -- will study the factors that have prevented a higher representation of women in Sikh organisations and initiatives, including at the leadership levels in Singapore, reported Friday weekly Tabla! "Historically, Baisakhi, which marks the creation of Khalsa, was meant to create a community of equals -- regardless of caste, creed, class or gender," said Malminderjit Singh, Sikh Advisory Board (SAB) chairman and a promoter of the EnKaur study.

"The Sikh Advisory Board is pleased to kick-start the EnKaur initiative during Baisakhi (celebrations) this year to ensure Sikh women in Singapore have greater opportunities to play leadership roles," Singh said.

The Sikh community members lit up the vicinity of Gurdwara Pardesi Khalsa Dharmak Diwan (PKDD), making it a colourful celebration after two years when congregations were restricted to control the spread of the coronavirus.

"The congregation sacrificed a lot in the past two years because of the pandemic, they compromised on worship and 'langar' (community kitchen which serves free meals)," PKDD president Deep Singh said.

"Now that measures are almost back to before for religious places of worship, we wanted to celebrate the festival of Baisakhi in a big way so it would be memorable for everyone, Sikhs and non-Sikhs alike," said Singh, adding, the light symbolically represents that "there is a light at the end of the tunnel" after a very gloomy two years of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Formed in 1927, the PKDD is one of the seven Gurdwaras in Singapore.

Elsewhere, Jay Pal Singh Sidhu and his wife S Sreeveena were joined by their Punjabi and Tamilian families for the Baisakhi and Varsha Pirappu (Tamil New Year) celebrations at their new home in the suburb housing estate of Whampoa.

The couple said they intend to introduce both Sikh and Tamil traditions to their children in the future and let them decide which one they want to follow.