Trade and Economy
Contributions to Trade and Economy
Arab Traders in Singapore
Most of the Arab families that settled in Singapore in the 1930s hail from Hadhramaut, Yemen. It can be said that “trading was in their blood”, as Yemen was situated along the trade route and many traders from Europe passed by there, resulting in many Hadhrami Arabs picking up the expertise of trade. In Singapore, our free port status drew traders from all walks of life, especially Arab traders. Many of them were spice traders, who would hail from 3 major families that are still dominant in Singapore today, the Aljunied, Alkaff and Alsagoff family. The number of Arab traders increased substantially upon Sir Stamford Raffles’ arrival. He encouraged Arab traders to settle in Singapore, as he recognised their extensive trading networks would be crucial in fulfilling his ambition to make Singapore a regional trading port. In the Raffles Town Plan, the blueprint for Singapore, he included plans for an Arab district to entice Arabs. The arrival of the Arabs was also facilitated by the building of the Silk Road, which linked China and Europe through the Middle East, and was the path taken by many Arab families to Singapore.
The Arabs dominated the businesses in Singapore, primarily in oil, spices and textiles, during the British colonial period. Many of the shophouses that we now see at Arab street have Middle Eastern style infrastructure as they were previously occupied by Arab merchants and traders, who occupied the top half of the shophouse while the bottom half was reserved for the family abode.
The most common areas of trade were the spice and textile industry. For example, Toko Aljunied was a shophouse set up by Mr Syed Haroon Aljunied in the 1930s which specialised in selling batik clothes and is still going strong even until today. This is why many shophouses we see in Arab streets today have Middle Eastern style infrastructure as they were previously occupied by Arab merchants and traders, who occupied the top half of the shophouse while the bottom half was reserved for their business. Other than trading with other traders from the Middle East, Europe and the Malay Peninsula, they also helped establish wide and lucrative trade networks. For example, Mr Syed Omar Ali Aljunied, who was known as the “principal Arab merchant” in Singapore established an extensive trading network that included Siam (Thailand), Madras (Chennai) and Bombay (Mumbai). While history books often attribute Singapore’s prosperity as a trade hub to our free-port status, the networks set up by these Arab families laid out the foundation for many other traders in the future.
Impact of Trading
Correlation to Other Areas
The Arabs’ successful trading business allowed them to accumulate immense wealth, which enabled them to acquire vast amounts of property and make generous donations in many aspects of Singapore’s society, such as education, infrastructure and healthcare. The Alkaff family provided homes for stranded families and even adopted children of other races, regardless of whether they were Arab. Funds from the Muslim Trust Association, established by the Alsagoff family, were used to house homeless people and buy school materials for children. The Aljunied family also collaborated with the government and were involved in public projects such as building roads and wells. They gave land to build hospitals (Tan Tock Seng) and churches (St Andrews Cathedral). Due to the resources they possessed and their generous nature, the Arab families contributed to improving the welfare of the Singaporean community.