The Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha was established in 1918 in Singapore by Sikh immigrants. The community had two gurdwaras (Sikh temples) then. One for the police and one for civilians. It was initially located at Queen’s Street, near the old Central Sikh Temple premises. Dispute within the Sikh community led to three factions, with the Majha, Malwa and Doaba factions each forming their own gurdwaras. Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha represented the Mahja faction.
The gurdwara moved to a two-storey bungalow at 90 Wilkie Road in 1932. The adjoining plot of land at 92 Wilkie Road was purchased in 1968 and both were reconstructed in order to form an entirely new premises. Construction of the new building was completed in 1980.
With the construction of the gurdwara’s new premises, its old premises became a jangh ghar, where wedding receptions were held, before it began to be used as a Gurmat Parchar Centre by the gurdwara’s youth wing and as accommodation for residential camps or samelans for Sikh youths during school holidays.
Apart from caring for the spiritual needs of the Sikh community, the gurdwara helped to organise classes to teach the Punjabi language to Sikh children in Singapore. From 1947 up until the Khalsa Punjabi School moved to the Singapore Khalsa Association in 1971, the Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha provided its premises as well as equipment for the school’s use.
The Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha has also supported efforts to build greater cohesion in Singapore’s Sikh community by aiding the organisation of celebrations of festivities such as Vaisakhi, Gurpurab and National Day Celebrations. It has also helped the wider Punjabi community by aiding flood relief in Punjab through the arrangement of remittances, as well as fundraising for the construction of schools, colleges and gurdwaras for the Punjabi community there.
Today, the Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha actively contributes to multicultural and multi-religious understanding in Singapore.
Buildings and sites featured on Roots.SG are part of our efforts to raise awareness of our heritage; a listing on Roots.SG does not imply any form of preservation or conservation status, unless it is mentioned in the article. The information in this article is valid as of September 2019 and is not intended to be an exhaustive history of the site/building.
