About the Encyclopedia
The Encyclopedia of Singapore Tamils (EST) was inspired by Singapore: The Encyclopedia, published in 2006, and its Editor-in-Chief, Prof Tommy Koh. Arun Mahizhnan, a member of its Editorial Advisory Board, was struck by the utility of such an encyclopedia and Prof Koh’s ability to mobilise volunteers to help develop the encyclopedia. He decided to explore the possibility of developing an encyclopedia focused on the Singapore Tamil community. However, based on certain constraints of the community, he concluded that it is best to create an encyclopedia “of the community by the community” rather than one compiled by experts alone. He also decided that providing free and easy access to the encyclopedia through an online platform, rather than a physical book, would be ideal.
Arun first secured the support of the Centre for Singapore Tamil Culture (CSTC), which he heads, to lead content development in collaboration with other Tamil community organisations. CSTC then approached the National Library Board (NLB) to host EST on its online platform. NLB readily agreed to support EST as a community project.
EST is a pioneering effort to document key aspects of the life and times of the Tamil community in Singapore over the last 200 years. There is currently no comprehensive study of the Tamil community as a whole in Singapore. EST is but the first step to fill this vast gap by serving as a historical record, educational resource, and reference tool.
EST is meant for students, educators, researchers, government agencies, community members, and the Tamil diaspora – anyone with a keen interest in the Singapore Tamil community.
EST features entries related to Singapore Tamils across various domains, including the arts and culture, history, education, economics, media, personalities, organisations, politics, public service, religion, and society. The content is categorised according to NLB’s established cataloguing conventions. However, it must be emphasised that EST is a work in progress. It is neither comprehensive nor definitive. As a start to a long and hopefully never-ending journey, CSTC has only included a selection of possible topics in each domain. The selection process was governed by the availability and reliability of information, the topic’s significance and relevance to EST’s purpose, and the cooperation of related organisations and individuals concerned.
The content of EST is mostly developed from publicly available resources and, in select cases, through direct communication with those related to the topic. The accuracy of the content depends on the reliability of these sources. Wherever feasible, corroboration has been sought to enhance accuracy and authenticity.
Each entry is brief, basic and factual. It is not intended to be the last word on the subject but rather the first. To help the reader explore the topic further, we have provided references and links at the end of most entries. However, in select cases, where there is hardly enough public information or reference sources, the entries provide a longer and more detailed account.
Unlike a printed volume, the online nature of EST allows for ongoing corrections, updates and additions. We welcome comments and suggestions to help improve and expand EST, through feedback links, and all submissions will be reviewed by the Editorial Board.
EST is published in both Tamil and English to ensure it is accessible and useful to a broad audience. Although the content in both versions is mostly similar, there are some variations designed to cater to the needs of the different language audiences. We have adopted a particular house style that does not include honorifics and uses surnames in English and first names in Tamil, with some exceptions in both cases. We use transliterations in Tamil, where there are no official translations. However, to let the user see the original English term, we have deployed a tooltip mechanism, the first such deployment by NLB.
The Encyclopedia of Singapore Tamils is a gift by the Singapore Tamil community to the nation as it celebrates its 60th birthday.
- Editorial Board -
Editorial Advisory Board
Chief Adviser
Tommy Koh
Advisers
Jimmy Yap. Hema Kiruppalini. Peter Schoppert.
Editorial Board
Chief Editor
Arun Mahizhnan
Deputy Editors
Azhagiya Pandiyan. Neelakandan Sivanantham.
Project Team
CSTC Project Manager
Sembian Somasundaram
CSTC Project Team
Eranian Varun. Ponmozhi Sembian. Shunmuga Sundaram, V. Subhramaniom, N.
Contributors
A dedicated team of volunteers, comprising community leaders, educators, freelance writers, and more, collaborated with CSTC and NLB on this milestone project. CSTC curated the content of EST. NLB provided technical expertise in areas such as cataloguing, image curation, and quality checks, among others. Below is the list of volunteers.
Aandeappan, Naa. Aazhi Senthilnathan. Abhijit Nag. Agalya Muthukumarasamy. Ahamed Sha Syed Majunoon. Aiswarya Devi Arivazhagan. Anbarasu Rajendran. Aravinth Kumarasamy. Arun Vasudev Krishnan. Babu Rishe. Balasubramanian, N. Baskaran Ganga. Bhanupriya Babu. Chitra Sankaran. Chithra Thanigaivel. Danapal Kumar. Darinee Alagirisamy. Deepak Iyer. Deepanraj. Deiva Sundaram, N. Devi Veerappan. Devi Vijayan. Dhinakaran, R. Durairaj Umamaheswari. Elango Anggammal. Elavarasi Stephen. Elavarasi, M. Elavazhagan Murugan. Elias. Godha, K V. Gopi Kannan. Gunasagaran. Gunasegaran, S. Hafizah Beevi. Haji Kutus s/o Meerasahib. Harikrishnan Muthusamy. Harini, V. Hemalatha. Hemang Nandabalan Yadav. Ilancheran, A. Inbha, A. Indrani. Irshath Mohamed. Janarthanan Krishnasamy. Jayanthi Swaminathan. Jegannath s/o Ramanujam. Jeyarajadas Pandian, S P. K Balasundaram Nee Thambyrajah Mahadevi. K H K Rangan. Kalaivani Ashwin. Kalaymai d/o Chinna Gounden. Kalpana Balasubramaniam. Kalyani. Kanagalatha, K. Kanchana Varatharajalu. Karthikeyan. Kavitha Krishnan. Kiruthika Chidambaram. Kotti Thirumuruganandam. Krishnasamy Bhavani. Kumaravelu, P. Lalitha Vaidyanathan. Liviniyah, P. Magahletchimi Amarthalingam. Magayshvari d/o Krishnasamy. Magespari d/o Ammayappan. Maha Devi. Mahesh Kumar. Manimala Mathialagan. Manimehalai Selvan. Mariappan Arjunan. Mathivanan, S. Meenakshi Palaniappan. Meenatchi Sabapathy. Mohamad Ameen Bin Said Abdul Kader. Mohamed Irshad. Mohamed Saleem s/o Abdul Hadi. Mohamed Saleem, H. Mohanapriya Chandrasekaran. Mohiadeen Abdul Kader. Monolisa. Muhammad Azhar. Murugappan. Muthu Nedumaran. Nalina Gopal. Nara Andiappan. Narayanan Kalyani. Narayanan s/o Narayanan Somasundaram. Narayanan Velayutham. Nithish Senthur, M. Palaniappan Sundararaj. Palaniappan, A. Pandiyan Vellasami. Panneerselvam, Se Pa. Parthasarathi Sankaran. Pavalakantham, A. Peer M Akbur. Perema Ramalingam. Perumal Arumai Chandran. Pichinikkadu Elango. Premikha, M. Prithika Ganesh. Pugalenthi. Puspalatha Yathavan. Radhika Jaidev. Raja Geetha. Raja Mohamad Maiden. Raja Segar, T. Rajagopal Anbalagan. Rajaram, R. Rajesh Kumar Dharmalingam. Rajikannu. Ram, P O. Rama Vairavan. Ramakrishnan Karthigayan. Ramanathan Nachiappan. Ramchander. Ramesh Selvaraj. Ramkumar Mohan. Ramu Karuppiah. Rani Kanna. Ravi Sarma. Ravi Singaram. Razwana Begum Bt Abdul Rahim. Sabanitha Shanmugasundram. Sambandam Mohan. Samikannu, S. Saminathan Mathialagan. Sanjay Muthukumaran. Santhi Sellappan. Saradha Devi. Sasikala. Sasikumar Ponnalagu. Sathakathulla, K H M. Sathiyamoorthi Karuppiah. Seetha Lakshmi. Selva Rajoo Ramayi. Selva, G. Sembian Meena. Serene Nabiesah, A Ha. Sezhiyan Nandhini. Shabir Sulthan. Shanavas. Shanmugam, K. Shantha Ratii. Shanthi d/o E Ramian. Shanthini d/o Muthiah. Sherene Jeevitha Joseph. Sivakumar, J. Sivakumaran, A Ra. Sobitha, G. Soodikkodutthal Ganesan. Soundara Nayaki Vairavan. Soundararajan Sathappan. Subbiah Lakshmanan. Subramaniam Nadaison. Subramaniam Visvalingam. Subramanian Ganesh. Subramanian Muthumanickam. Sudha Divakaran. Suja Chellappan. Sukumar, E. Sukumaran K Nair. Sundaravadivelan Selvam. Suppulachemy, S. Sushma Somasekharan. Tamilarasi Subramaniam. Tan Tin Wee. Thenmulli d/o Palaniappan. Theresa W. Devasahayam. Thinnappan, S P. Timothy David. Uma Jayaraman. Vaishnavi Anand. Varadharajan, A K. Varaprasad, N. Vedagiri, G. Venkatesh Shanthi. Venugobal M Thangaraju. Vijayakumar Arul Oswin. Vijayan Nambiar. Viji Jagadeesh. Vishnu Vardni. Yousuf Rowther Rajid Ahamed.