{"id":27447,"date":"2026-01-10T19:09:36","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T11:09:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=27447"},"modified":"2026-01-10T19:09:36","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T11:09:36","slug":"nepali-woman-calls-for-citizenship-for-gurkha-families-we-know-singapore-by-heart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=27447","title":{"rendered":"Nepali woman calls for citizenship for Gurkha families: &#8216;We know Singapore by heart&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">A Nepali woman raised in Singapore who had to return to her home country at the age of 16 has appealed for fellow families of the Gurkha Contingent to be given Singapore citizenship, as she expressed deep affection for the country.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">According to the Singapore Police Force&#8217;s website, the <span><a class=\"text-primary-500 hover:underline\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.police.gov.sg\/Who-We-Are\/Our-People\" target=\"_blank\">Gurkha Contingent comprises police officers recruited from hill tribes in Nepal<\/a><\/span> to provide a &#8220;strong-arm&#8221; within the police force.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">Formed on Apr 9, 1949, the contingent is <span><a class=\"text-primary-500 hover:underline\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nlb.gov.sg\/main\/article-detail?cmsuuid=981140fa-f5f7-428a-8787-93be0cd55d94\" target=\"_blank\">deployed during high-profile events<\/a><\/span>, such as the Trump-Kim summit in June 2018, and is renowned for its ability to remain impartial but loyal. Under the terms of their contracts, officers must return to Nepal with their families after 15 to 20 years of service in Singapore.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">As of 2018, the contingent had around 1,800 officers.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"mb-[-8px] mt-lg font-primary text-22 font-bold leading-1.5\">Nepali gushes over Singapore<\/h3>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">On Jan 8, Facebook user @Jules Thapa shared her experience growing up as a Nepali in the Republic, explaining that she had to leave the country at 16 under a &#8220;compulsory return to Nepal&#8221; contract.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">&#8220;Imagine living in a first world country and having to adapt to a developing country overnight especially during a time of political instability. Singapore is so safe I really thought it was the norm everywhere,&#8221; she wrote.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">She described her first few years back in Nepal as &#8220;hard and confusing&#8221;, expressing gratitude for the &#8220;top-notch education and safety&#8221; she experienced in the city-state.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">Nepali children living in Singapore are also a &#8220;byproduct of the contract&#8221;, she added, calling for a &#8220;feasible solution&#8221; for them instead of forced displacement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">&#8220;We know Singapore by heart just like any other Singaporeans and we love and uphold the same sentiments as the locals,&#8221; she concluded.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">Stomp has reached out to Jules Thapa for comment.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"mb-[-8px] mt-lg font-primary text-22 font-bold leading-1.5\">Gurkhas are &#8216;booted out&#8217; after their &#8216;prime&#8217;: Netizens<\/h3>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">Many netizens empathised with her in the comments, calling it a &#8220;sad and unfair&#8221; situation. &#8220;Please keep pressing for change via our local organisations for support. I would love for Singapore to have you guys as part of us!&#8221; one commented.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">Several chimed in with their interactions with the Gurkha community, describing its members as &#8220;disciplined&#8221; and lauding their contributions to the country.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">Netizens also urged the authorities to consider offering Gurkha families citizenship, especially with falling birth rates in Singapore.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">However, a few pointed out that the rationale for recruiting the Gurkha Contingent is that its members do not come from a &#8220;native&#8221; community in Singapore, which helps ensure neutrality and impartiality in sensitive situations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">The post was also <span><a class=\"text-primary-500 hover:underline\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/singapore\/comments\/1q89oz6\/gurkhas_in_singapore\/?utm_source=share&amp;utm_medium=web3x&amp;utm_name=web3xcss&amp;utm_term=1&amp;utm_content=share_button\" target=\"_blank\">shared on subreddit r\/singapore by user @eclairfastpass,<\/a><\/span> where netizens echoed similar sentiments.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">&#8220;They are the unsung heroes that many Singaporeans do not recognise,&#8221; one netizen said.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"border-t border-primary-200 mt-xl mb-md\"\/>\n<div class=\"flex w-full flex-col gap-md py-md xl:flex-row xl:items-center\"><span class=\"font-primary text-18 font-semibold leading-1.2 text-black\">Get more of Stomp&#8217;s latest updates by following us on:<\/span><\/div>\n<hr class=\"border-t border-primary-200 mt-xl mb-md\"\/>\n<p>Join the conversation<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.stomp.sg\/trending-now\/nepali-woman-calls-citizenship-gurkha-families-we-know-singapore-heart\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Nepali woman raised in Singapore who had to return to her home country at the age of 16 has appealed for fellow families of&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27448,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27447\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/27448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}