Spoke to some members of our local Arab community on the 1st Dude. He is described as a nice decent guy and quiet by nature. Never relished any publicity and this is a challenge for him. In his younger days was active in the Arab Association and looked after youth matters. Collegiate in his dealing with the Association.
Guy is now being hazed in a light hearted manner by his Arab breathen for allowing his woman to walk in front of him and bringing disrepute to their tribe. As some of you aware that Malays especially those from Minangkabau extract are matriarchal while the Arabs are fiercely at the other end of the spectrum. Also found out the Singapore Arabs have kept their core traditions intact while those in Malaysia and Indonesia have been malayanised.
Guy loves big bikes and used to do the runs on one.
Like many Singapore Arabs he has been managing investments for a very long time.
The local Yemeni Arabs are as similar to other Arabs as you are to your Chinese ancestors - they are anything but - they don't speak Arabic (a few words like afwan, habibi does not a speaker make), cook kabsah and they have no genuine understanding of their cultural heritage as it is actually practiced in Yemen (the most tribalised society on the Arabian peninsula). So as much as they like to distinguish themselves ethnically, they are just singkies now who happen to be descended mostly from Hadramuti Arabs.
There has been a recent generational attempt to restablish their identity through language classes but again the reality is their Yemeni culture has already been diluted by their place within the Malay culture. But they will insist on marrying only within their community (just like the Sindhis) and that is probably their last defence against absolute integration.
Interestingly in the last 10/15 years in particular there have been more Arabs from Egypt, Morocco, Lebanon who have arrived in Singapore and married into predominantly Malay families. These are direct immigrants who still have a distinct Arab outlook and perspective.
I recommended placing the two distinct groups in a room to witness the inter-group dynamics. The recently arrived Arab immigrants will be more at ease chatting to each other than our Hadramuti Arabs despite being from different Arab backgrounds - they will have a common bond as Arabs and often view the locals as curious anomalies. Its very similar to the Indians from Indian who do not have anything in common with the mostly Tamil singkie Indians.
By direct comparison, I have heard that even the local Sikh temples have a distinct cleavage between the those who are here directly from Punjab and those local sibgkie who are decendents - iroinically despite even speaking the same language and largely homogenous culture (unlike the varied Arabs) they struggle to find commonality because singkies are just singkies and they have a very distinct reference point - the varying experiences.
Ethnic and cultural identity is not just about a surname.
