Peranakan culture in Singapore: Popularity and continuity

“When one wears a kebaya, you have to be demure. The performance misrepresents our culture and is inappropriate and insensitive,” she said.

Others worry that public understanding of Peranakan heritage remains incomplete.

Arunaa Devan, 36, felt that public attention here does not focus on the full breadth of Peranakan heritage. The Chetti Melaka group, for example, is unfamiliar to many in the broader Indian community. 

The fourth-generation Singaporean Tamil is not Peranakan. But visiting Kampung Chetti in Melaka at age seven, where she first tasted the community’s glutinous rice dessert wajek and encountered its creole and customs, sparked a lasting fascination.

“A more balanced picture would present the Peranakan identity as the culturally diverse phenomenon it actually is.”

Beyond mainstream popularity

Despite their pride in the culture’s newfound mainstream popularity, some are concerned that the interest is superficial. Some feel a responsibility to encourage deeper engagement.

Businessman Laurence Tan, 71, is proud when elements of his heritage are celebrated worldwide. It creates entry points for people to engage with his culture, he said. 

But he worries that the culture could be reduced to mere aesthetics or passing trends. 

“When people visit Joo Chiat, especially the stretch of Koon Seng Road, for Instagram photos against the backdrop of Peranakan houses, or order Peranakan dishes without understanding the labour, history and family bonds behind them, the culture loses its depth.” 

Frederick Soh, artistic director and playwright of Gunong Sayang Association, agreed that interest must spark somewhere.

But the community has a responsibility to welcome that curiosity and nurture it into a deeper appreciation, he said.

Merlin Pillay, a member of the Peranakan Indian (Chitty Melaka) Association, keeps her traditions alive through workshops on making kopiah (traditional caps) and bunga rampai (potpourri).

“Peranakan cooking and crafts can take a lot of time and effort,” said the 73-year-old retired school discipline assistant. “No pain, no gain.”

Without intentionality, parts of the culture will fade away, as it can be difficult to withstand the broader societal shifts, as those interviewed told The Straits Times.

Some parts of the culture are already gone, noted Ida Chee and her sisters, Kelly and Jasmine, who are 11th-generation Peranakans from Melaka but live in Singapore. 

Some relatives in Singapore have dropped some Peranakan practices, as the Republic has shifted towards secularism over the years, said Ida Chee. 

Back in their Melaka home, smayang tikong – a prayer ritual honouring the Jade Emperor (Tien Kong) held during the Chinese New Year period – was laborious and elaborate, often grander than the festival itself. 

“I remember my kong kong wearing a jacket and tie to pray on Tien Kong day,” said Kelly Chee, referring to her grandfather. 

“We would all dress up for the evening, and it was a rare opportunity for the little kids to stay up past our bedtime till midnight when the prayer closes, and we burn joss paper and sugarcane stalks.”

If a relative dies, the practice is paused for three years. Many families never resume it, noted Kelly Chee. Time and space constraints in Singapore have also led to the ritual’s decline.

The sisters in their 40s feel that despite greater mainstream exposure, Peranakan culture has become “diluted” as gender norms have shifted.

Women in the past were central to passing down traditions at home, but most today work or have married outside the Peranakan community, said Jasmine Chee.

“It was the women or mothers who were at home passing the culture to the children. The children spoke the language, enjoyed their mum’s cooking and wore the clothes. The matriarch held the fort.”

Lim Beng Soon, who heads the Malay language and literature programme at Singapore University of Social Sciences, is concerned that few young Peranakans today can speak Baba Malay or wear a sarong neatly.

The fifth-generation Peranakan from Penang said cultural concepts conveyed through the language risk being lost, citing pantang larang, or taboos, as an example.

TPAS’ honorary treasurer Ronney Tan, 72, said Baba Malay has lost relevance as English and Mandarin have become the economic lingua francas.

Broader marriage trends in Singapore also show that more people are marrying across races and countries, which means fewer family units have Baba Malay as the predominant language.

Tan, who is also president of Keng Teck Whay – a mutual-aid society founded in 1831 by 36 wealthy Hokkien-Peranakan businessmen from Melaka – added that the growing inter-marriages has also made it difficult to estimate the size of the community. 

Evolving the culture

What some see as dilution could be perceived by others as cultural evolution.

Said Soh: “Our language, food, clothing, music and customs reflect a history of different influences coming together to form something distinctive.”

Being Peranakan today does not mean living exactly as one’s grandparents did, he added.

Fashion, as reflected in the interpretations of the kebaya today, perhaps shows the clearest change.

Kebaya designer Wong said customers inspired him to explore different cuts and fabrics, including tweed for clients who found traditional cotton voile too light for colder climates.

He wants to adapt the kebaya to contemporary life, while preserving its distinctive embroidery and craftsmanship, so more people will wear it. 

Young Matthias Teo, 10, is part of the younger generation learning what it means to be Peranakan today.

His grandmother – TPAS president Jeffs – is training him to develop a Peranakan palate for chilli by introducing him to dishes, such as ayam korma or chicken curry.

Teo, a Primary 4 pupil, joins her at the association’s events and now loves kueh pie tee and what he calls “green ball” – ondeh ondeh.

Ryan Joshua Mahindapala, a 34-year-old education and publishing entrepreneur, learnt Peranakan recipes such as lauk ikan pindang – a fish dish – from his mother. 

The Indian Peranakan also reads up on his Peranakan roots and is trying to learn Chetti Malay from his family.

Businessman Tan, who speaks Baba Malay, said he ensures the younger members of his extended family follow Peranakan traditions.

They continue to wear traditional attire, beaded slippers and Peranakan jewellery for CNY, family weddings and elders’ milestone birthdays.

Customs such as kneeling to pay obeisance while offering auspicious wishes for a long life and acknowledging elders before eating are still observed. 

Tan is working on his grandmother’s memoirs to document not just her life, but her Peranakan traditions and customs.

The Chee sisters, who speak fluent Baba Malay, return to their ancestral house in Melaka several times a year to practise Peranakan rituals for occasions such as CNY, Qing Ming Festival and the death anniversaries of ancestors.

Their Chee Swee Cheng Foundation also donates to The Peranakan Museum and TPAS.

Those representing the community in public-facing spheres said they feel duty-bound to pass on traditions.

Soh hopes to share more than performances through Wayang Peranakan, Baba Malay, traditional songs, dance, pantuns and dondang sayang (love ballads).

“We can pass on the stories, values and ways of seeing the world that give our culture its distinctive character.”

Jeffs is organising an event at the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre on Dec 14 and 15 featuring members in kebayas and a talk by kebaya-maker Wong.  

“Our duty is to keep introducing interesting programmes to attract younger generations,” said Jeffs, who has over 100 kebayas and wears them to events and Peranakan restaurants.

“Or else we will have young Peranakans who will say, ‘I am a Peranakan, but I don’t practise it.’”