why is singapore pre-dominantly chinese? history explained.

Singapore sits right in the middle of Southeast Asia, surrounded by Malay-majority countries, so why is it overwhelmingly Chinese?

In this episode, I’m breaking it all down.

This is a story about colonization, migration, and political drama. The British turned Singapore into a booming trade hub and brought in workers from all over, but it was the mass influx of Chinese immigrants, escaping war, famine, and chaos in southern China, that really shaped the island’s future.

Then came the whole unification with Malaysia, where Singapore joined… and then got kicked out just two years later. That moment pretty much locked in Singapore’s Chinese-majority status forever.

But this isn’t just about Singapore, Chinese communities are all over Southeast Asia, from Malaysia to Indonesia to Thailand. So what makes Singapore different? And why did history play out this way?

Let’s get into it.