Sikh community may have to evolve and adapt, says Singapore professor

Sikh community institutions, organisations and gurdwaras which had traditionally defined Sikh culture may have to evolve and adapt, according to a Singapore Professor.

"They will find it increasingly more challenging to control and shape the narrative and markers of Sikh identity," said Prof Tan Tai Yong, President of Yale-National University of Singapore College.

Tan, a Chinese-origin Singaporean, has studied Singapore Sikh community as an undergraduate and authored a book on the community in 1986.

"The question is: how to create spaces for a diversity of voices and new perspectives on how Sikh identities can be negotiated, said Prof Tan at a lecture held on Saturday as a part of the larger celebrations here for the 550th birth anniversary celebrations of the Sikhism founder Guru Nanak Dev.

Engagement with the youths, with their different worldviews and priorities, will be the major challenge, according to Prof Tan.

"The key is to get them (Sikh youths) interested and take some form .