Tag: asia
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The Disappearance of Kampong Spirit and the Cost of Development in Singapore
Singapore frequently calls for a revival of the kampong spirit. Political speeches, national campaigns, and school values programmes describe it as neighbourliness, mutual care, and shared responsibility. The term is treated as a moral ideal that modern society must rediscover. What is rarely acknowledged is a more uncomfortable truth. Kampong spirit did not disappear on…
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Rooted and Unapologetic: Embracing Indigenous Pride in Southeast Asia
Indigenous identity in Southeast Asia has been historically devalued, leading many native people to suppress who they are. Pride must endure even when it is questioned, mocked, or dismissed by more economically affluent migrant communities. According to UNESCO, indigenous peoples across the Asia-Pacific region have faced sustained cultural marginalisation that pressures them to abandon language,…
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Southeast Asia’s Hidden Hierarchy: Indigenous Disadvantage, Chinese Dominance
Walk through the skyscraper-filled skylines of Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Jakarta, Bangkok, or Ho Chi Minh City, and a pattern emerges that is almost too obvious to mention. The banks, conglomerates, ports, plantations, and industrial empires are disproportionately controlled by ethnic Chinese families, often long-settled, naturalised citizens who dominate sectors that shape national economies. Meanwhile, the…
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The Racism Behind “Jungle Asian”
The slur “jungle Asian” is often brushed off as crude humour, a throwaway insult not worth engaging with. But language like this does not emerge accidentally. It exposes a hierarchy that has quietly taken hold within Asian communities themselves, one that elevates East Asians while positioning Southeast Asians as something less developed, less refined, less…
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Before There Was Singapore, There Was Us: The Indigenous Malays of the Island
When a TikTok user with the username “joeiboaz” began her video with the question, “Did you know Singapore has indigenous people?” , the comments section lit up with surprise. For some, it was a revelation. For others – especially Malays – it was a strange feeling. How could something so fundamental to our identity be…
The Indigenous Narrative 