Singapore’s Arab community traces ancestral roots to Yemen’s Hadhramaut Valley

Wadi Dawan in the Hadhramaut Valley, main picture. (Arab News photo by Munshi Ahmed)
Updated 20 July 2018
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Singapore’s Arab community traces ancestral roots to Yemen’s Hadhramaut Valley

  • Though the Indian Ocean separates the Asian metropolis of Singapore and the Arabian deserts of Hadhramaut, the ties that bind them run deep and go back centuries
  • Situated at the crossroads of Africa, Asia and the Middle East, Hadhramaut was at one time a key post on the ancient spice trade route

SINGAPORE: The first car to arrive in Tarim, a historic town in the Hadhramaut Valley of Yemen, was an American Studebaker.

It had traveled across oceans and continents to get there — but not without the help of one prominent Arab family in Singapore.

“Tarim’s first car was bought and imported to Singapore by the Alkaff family,” said Zahra Aljunied, whose forefathers came from Tarim. The 62-year-old senior librarian is a fifth-generation Singaporean Arab from the lineage of Syed Omar Aljunied, one of the first Arabs to set foot in the port in 1820.

“They disassembled the car, put it on a ship, and brought it to Mukallah, which is nine hours’ drive from Tarim,” she told Arab News. “Then it was put on the back of camels, brought all the way to Tarim, where they reassembled the car with the S (Singapore number) plate before it was driven.”

Though the Indian Ocean separates the Asian metropolis of Singapore and the Arabian deserts of Hadhramaut, the ties that bind them run deep and go back centuries.

Almost all Arabs in Southeast Asia trace their ancestry to Hadhramaut, a region on the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula in present-day Yemen. Referred to as Hadhrami Arabs, they began migrating to Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore in large numbers from the mid-18th century.

Names such as Aljunied, Alkaff and Alsagoff are familiar to most Singaporeans, as streets, buildings, mosques, schools and even a district have been named after these prominent Arab clans. Yet few realize the impact the early Muslim settlers had on colonial Singapore, or on the families they left behind in the homeland.

“When Sir Stamford Raffles founded Singapore in 1819, one of the first things he did was to persuade Hadhrami families to come here,” recounted Singapore’s former foreign minister George Yeo at the launch of a 2010 exhibition about Arabs in Southeast Asia.

“Syed Mohammed Harun Aljunied and (his nephew) Syed Omar Aljunied from Palembang (in present-day Indonesia) were given a warm welcome, and from that time on Singapore became the center of the Hadhrami network in Southeast Asia,” Yeo said. 




Zahra Aljunied, a fifth-generation Singaporean Arab. (AN photo by Munshi Ahmed)

Attracted by Singapore’s free port status, the two men — already successful merchants in Palembang — brought everything they owned “lock, stock and barrel,” said Zahra, whose paternal grandmother came from the line of Syed Omar. 

Syed Omar was born in 1792 in Tarim, a small town in South Yemen widely considered a theological, judicial and academic hub in Hadhramaut. The Malays saw him as a prince because the Aljunied family, being part of the Ba’alawi tribe, can trace their ancestry to the Prophet Muhammad and were regarded as legitimate custodians of Islam. 

But growing up, Tarim was a place that Zahra and her siblings shunned.

“When we were kids, my grandmother or grandfather will say: ‘If you are naughty, we will send you back to Hadhramaut’,” she said, laughing. “So we looked at Hadhramaut as a place we didn’t want to be in. We didn’t look forward to going there.”

But her journey towards discovering her roots took a new turn in 2004, when she became part of a research team from Singapore organizing an exhibition entitled “Rihlah — Arabs in Southeast Asia.” 

That journey drew her back to Hadhramaut five times, and also to Palembang and Java in Indonesia. She discovered that decades of Southeast Asian influence gave Hadhramaut a unique culture not found in other parts of the Middle East.

“When I first went to Hadhramaut, it was so different from Sanaa … It’s their way of life — what they eat, wear, even the language,” she said. 

While men in Sanaa usually wear the traditional Yemeni dress called a thobe, men in Hadhramaut prefer shirts and sarongs, traditional Indonesian clothing often made of Javanese batik. 

“Yes, they dress differently … They eat belacan (the shrimp paste condiment used in Southeast Asia) and keropok (Malay/Indonesian prawn crackers), all imported from Indonesia,” Zahra said.

“You ask me how I’ve assimilated to the culture here, but over in Tarim, they have already assimilated to the culture that is imported from here.” 




Abdul Rahman bin Junied Aljunied, Zahra’s great grandfather. (AN photo by Munshi Ahmed)

Hadhramis have been traversing the Indian Ocean for centuries, said Syed Farid Alatas, professor of sociology at the National University of Singapore.

Situated at the crossroads of Africa, Asia and the Middle East, Hadhramaut was at that time a key post on the ancient spice trade route.

“The migration to Southeast Asia was relatively recent compared with the other migrations in East Africa and southern India,” said Alatas, who is also from a prominent Hadhrami family in Southeast Asia.

Famine and economic hardship were some push factors, he added. “But I think you can’t divorce that from a certain interest that Hadhramis have because they were living in the coastal areas. Hadhramaut has a long coast and so they were seafaring and interested in going out, in exploring other places.”

However, the homeland was never far from their hearts. Parents used to send their young sons to Hadhramaut to study in religious schools, where they would to learn Arabic and Islamic values. Sometimes they also married off their local-born daughters to Hadhrami men. 

“They want their sons to know Arabic, so they send them to study there for many years, like my father, my uncle, some of my brothers,” Zahra said. “My grandfather was the same like others before him. They often sent money and many things back to Hadhramaut. Maybe once in three months, my grandmother would get a big carton and put lots of things inside — keropok (prawn crackers), belacan (shrimp paste), the Three Rifles brand (a homegrown brand) men’s singlets.”

Remittances from the Far East soon became the most important source of income for those in the homeland as overpopulation, poverty and arid farming conditions made it difficult to sustain traditional livelihoods such as agriculture, herding and trade.

By the 19th century, Arabs in Southeast Asia dominated trade, commerce and maritime networks. They operated the largest fleets and vessels in the Indo-Malay archipelago, and the port of Singapore became the hub of Hadhrami shipping. For a time, Singapore was also the major transit point for Hajj pilgrims.

Hadhrami Arabs were instrumental in the spread of Islam in the region. Many held high positions in civic and religious affairs or took part in politics. Others owned large swathes of land in the early colonial days — an estimated 50 percent of Singapore’s total land mass at one time, according to one scholar. 

Known for their philanthropy, they also donated much of their land for cemeteries, hospitals and places of worship including famous landmarks such as St. Andrew’s Cathedral and Singapore’s first mosque, Masjid Omar Kampong Melaka — both of which still stand today.

After World War II, however, Arab wealth and prominence in Singapore began to fade, due in part to rent controls as the government sought to curb inflation. The introduction of the 1966 land acquisition act also affected Arab land ownership as the post-independence government bought property  for state development.

Estimates put the Arab population in Singapore at about 10,000 today, but some say that the numbers are difficult to determine as many have assimilated into the Malay community and no longer distinguish themselves as Arabs. 




Syed Harun bin Hassan Aljunied, Zahra’s paternal grandfather. (AN photo by Munshi Ahmed)

“Many Hadhrami emigrants intermarried with their host societies and integrated so completely that after the passing of a generation or two, their descendants could no longer be regarded as members of a diaspora. Others, however, chose to retain their affiliation to the homeland,” wrote historian Ulrike Freitag in her book “Indian Ocean Migrants and State Formation in Hadhramaut: Reforming the Homeland.”

However, she warned that “it would be premature to conclude that members of the Hadhrami diaspora have either all departed or assimilated to the extent of renouncing their Hadhrami identity.”

Some observers say that Singaporean Arabs have lost their identity since many young Arabs no longer speak Arabic and have little ties to Hadhramaut, but Alatas disagreed.

“Have Singaporean Chinese lost their identity?” he asked. “Singaporean Chinese are not like the Chinese in China. Even if they speak Mandarin, they think differently from Chinese in China. On that basis, is it fair to say that Chinese in Singapore have lost their identity?”

Arabs are no exception, he said. “You have Arabs in Singapore who feel and strongly identify themselves as Arab. On the other hand, you have those who have assimilated into Malay society — they know they have Arab ancestry, but they feel Malay.

“Then you have Arabs who are in between, who are creole.”

The war in Yemen has taken a huge human and economic toll on the country and disrupted transport links. Even those hoping to maintain ties with their ancestral home find it hard to return.

Flights have become irregular and expensive, and reaching Tarim now involves a 10-hour bus journey from Salalah in Oman, Zahra said.

“My father also stopped going,” she said sadly. “I miss Tarim.”


‘Return to your country’ Kabul tells Afghans rebuffed by Washington

Updated 07 June 2025
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‘Return to your country’ Kabul tells Afghans rebuffed by Washington

  • US President Trump this week announced travel ban targeting 12 countries, including Afghanistan
  • Afghan PM assures nationals of protection even if they worked with US-led forces against Taliban

KABUL: The Taliban government on Saturday urged Afghans hoping to emigrate to the United States to instead return to Afghanistan, after Washington tightened entry conditions.

US President Donald Trump this week announced a travel ban targeting 12 countries, including Afghanistan, which his proclamation said lacked “competent” central authorities for processing passports and vetting.

Commenting on the ban on Saturday, Prime Minister Hassan Akhund urged Afghans to return to their country, saying they would be protected even if they worked with US-led forces in the two-decade fight against the Taliban insurgency.

“For those who are worried that America has closed its doors to Afghans... I want to tell them, ‘Return to your country, even if you have served the Americans for 20 or 30 years for their ends, and ruined the Islamic system’,” he said in a speech marking the Eid Al-Adha holiday, broadcast by state media.

“You will not face abuse or trouble,” he said, making reassurances that the Taliban Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada had “granted amnesty for all.”

After surging to power in 2021, Taliban authorities announced a general amnesty for Afghans who worked with the Western-backed forces and government. However, the United Nations has recorded reports of extrajudicial killings, detentions and abuses.

In the past four years, the Taliban government has imposed a strict view of Islamic law and restrictions on women which the UN says amount to “gender apartheid.”

Afghans fled in droves to neighboring countries during decades of conflict, but the chaotic withdrawal of US-led troops saw a new wave clamoring to escape Taliban government curbs and fears of reprisal for working with Washington.

The United States has not had a working embassy in Afghanistan since 2021 and Afghans must apply for visas in third countries, principally Pakistan which has recently ramped up campaigns to expel Afghans.

Since Trump returned to the White House in January, Afghans have gradually seen their chances of migrating to the United States or staying there shrink.

Trump administration orders have disrupted refugee pathways and revoked legal protections temporarily shielding Afghans from deportation starting in July.


France’s president will visit Greenland in a show of EU unity, Danish leader says

Updated 07 June 2025
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France’s president will visit Greenland in a show of EU unity, Danish leader says

  • Frederiksen and the French leader said they will meet in the semiautonomous Danish territory on June 15
  • Frederiksen acknowledged the “difficult foreign policy situation in recent months”

COPENHAGEN: French President Emmanuel Macron will travel to Greenland next weekend, the Danish prime minister’s office said Saturday — a visit by a high-profile European Union leader in the wake of US expressions of interest in taking over the mineral-rich Arctic island.

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and the French leader said they will meet in the semiautonomous Danish territory on June 15, hosted by Greenland’s new prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen.

The visit by Macron, whose nuclear-armed country has one of the EU’s strongest militaries, comes as US President Donald Trump hasn’t ruled out using force to carry out his desire for the resource-rich and strategically located island to become part of the United States.

While the issue of US interest in Greenland has drifted from the headlines in recent weeks, Nielsen said in late April that such comments by US leaders have been disrespectful and that Greenland will never be “a piece of property” that anyone can buy.

In the statement Saturday, Frederiksen acknowledged the “difficult foreign policy situation in recent months” but praised “great international support” for Greenland and Denmark.

“President Macron’s upcoming visit to Greenland is yet another concrete testament to European unity,” she said, alluding to the membership of France and Denmark in the 27-member-country EU.

The three leaders were expected to discuss security in the North Atlantic and the Arctic, as well as issues of economic development, climate change and energy during the visit, her office said.


Wagner Group leaving Mali after heavy losses but Russia’s Africa Corps to remain

Updated 07 June 2025
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Wagner Group leaving Mali after heavy losses but Russia’s Africa Corps to remain

“Mission accomplished. Private Military Company Wagner returns home,” the group announced
Mali, along with neighbors Burkina Faso and Niger, has for more than a decade battled an insurgency fought by armed groups

DAKAR: The Russia-backed Wagner Group said Friday it is leaving Mali after more than three and a half years of fighting Islamic extremists and insurgents in the country.

Despite Wagner’s announcement, Russia will continue to have a mercenary presence in the West African country. The Africa Corps, Russia’s state-controlled paramilitary force, said on its Telegram channel Friday that Wagner’s departure would not introduce any changes and the Russian contingent will remain in Mali.

“Mission accomplished. Private Military Company Wagner returns home,” the group announced via its channel on the messaging app Telegram. It said it had brought all regional capitals under control of the Malian army, pushed out armed militants and killed their commanders.

Mali, along with neighbors Burkina Faso and Niger, has for more than a decade battled an insurgency fought by armed groups, including some allied with Al-Qaeda and the Daesh group.

As Western influence in the region has waned, Russia has sought to step into the vacuum, sweeping in with offers of assistance. Moscow initially expanded its military cooperation with African nations by using the Wagner Group of mercenaries. But since the group’s leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, was killed in a plane crash in 2023, after mounting a brief armed rebellion in Russia that challenged the rule of President Vladimir Putin, Moscow has been developing the Africa Corps as a rival force to Wagner.

Africa Corps is under direct command of the Russian defense ministry.

According to US officials, there are around 2,000 mercenaries in Mali. It is unclear how many are with Wagner and how many are part of the Africa Corps.

Beverly Ochieng, a security analyst specializing in the Sahel for Control Risks consultancy, said the Russian defense ministry had been negotiating with Mali to take on more Africa Corps fighters and for Wagner mercenaries to join Russia’s state-controlled paramilitary force.

“Since the death of Prigozhin, Russia has had this whole plan to then make the Wagner Group fall under the command of the Ministry of Defense. One of the steps they made was to revamp or introduce the Africa Corps, which is the way in which the Russian paramilitaries would retain a presence in areas where the Wagner group has been operating,” Ochieng said.

Wagner has been present in Mali since late 2021 following a military coup, replacing French troops and international peacekeepers to help fight the militants. But the Malian army and Russian mercenaries struggled to curb violence in the country and have both been accused of targeting civilians.

Last month, United Nations experts urged Malian authorities to investigate reports of alleged summary executions and forced disappearances by Wagner mercenaries and the army.

In December, Human Rights Watch accused Malian armed forces and the Wagner Group of deliberately killing at least 32 civilians over an 8-month span.

The announcement of Wagner’s withdrawal comes as the Malian army and the Russian mercenaries suffered heavy losses during attacks by the Al-Qaeda linked group JNIM in recent weeks.

Last week, JNIM fighters killed dozens of soldiers in an attack on a military base in central Mali.

Rida Lyammouri, a Sahel expert at the Morocco-based Policy Center for the New South, said the major losses might have caused the possible end of Wagner’s mission.

“The lack of an official and mutual announcement from both the Malian authorities and Wagner indicate possible internal dispute which led to this sudden decision. Simultaneously, this could point to a new framework for Russian presence in the country,” he said.

Replacing Wagner with Africa Corps troops would likely shift Russia’s focus in Mali from fighting alongside the Malian army to training, said Ulf Laessing, head of the Sahel program at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.

“Africa Corps has a lighter footprint and focuses more on training, providing equipment and doing protection services. They fight less than the ‘Rambo-type’ Wagner mercenaries,” Laessing said.

‘Return to your country’ Kabul tells Afghans rebuffed by Washington

Updated 07 June 2025
Follow

‘Return to your country’ Kabul tells Afghans rebuffed by Washington

  • Akhund urged Afghans to return to their country, saying they would be protected even if they worked with US-led forces
  • “You will not face abuse or trouble”

KABUL: The Taliban government on Saturday urged Afghans hoping to emigrate to the United States to instead return to Afghanistan, after Washington tightened entry conditions.

US President Donald Trump this week announced a travel ban targeting 12 countries, including Afghanistan, which his proclamation said lacked “competent” central authorities for processing passports and vetting.

Commenting on the ban on Saturday, Prime Minister Hassan Akhund urged Afghans to return to their country, saying they would be protected even if they worked with US-led forces in the two-decade fight against the Taliban insurgency.

“For those who are worried that America has closed its doors to Afghans... I want to tell them, ‘Return to your country, even if you have served the Americans for 20 or 30 years for their ends, and ruined the Islamic system’,” he said in a speech marking the Eid Al-Adha holiday, broadcast by state media.

“You will not face abuse or trouble,” he said, making reassurances that the Taliban Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada had “granted amnesty for all.”

After surging to power in 2021, Taliban authorities announced a general amnesty for Afghans who worked with the Western-backed forces and government. However, the United Nations has recorded reports of extrajudicial killings, detentions and abuses.

In the past four years, the Taliban government has imposed a strict view of Islamic law and restrictions on women which the UN says amount to “gender apartheid.”

Afghans fled in droves to neighboring countries during decades of conflict, but the chaotic withdrawal of US-led troops saw a new wave clamouring to escape Taliban government curbs and fears of reprisal for working with Washington.

The United States has not had a working embassy in Afghanistan since 2021 and Afghans must apply for visas in third countries, principally Pakistan which has recently ramped up campaigns to expel Afghans.

Since Trump returned to the White House in January, Afghans have gradually seen their chances of migrating to the United States or staying there shrink.

Trump administration orders have disrupted refugee pathways and revoked legal protections temporarily shielding Afghans from deportation starting in July.


Ukrainian attack damaged 10 percent of Russia’s strategic bombers, Germany says

Updated 07 June 2025
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Ukrainian attack damaged 10 percent of Russia’s strategic bombers, Germany says

  • “More than a dozen aircraft were damaged, TU-95 and TU-22 strategic bombers as well as A-50 surveillance planes,” Freuding said
  • US estimates that Ukraine’s audacious drone attack hit as many as 20 Russian warplanes

BERLIN: A Ukrainian drone attack last weekend likely damaged around 10 percent of Russia’s strategic bomber fleet and hit some of the aircraft as they were being prepared for strikes on Ukraine, a senior German military official said.

“According to our assessment, more than a dozen aircraft were damaged, TU-95 and TU-22 strategic bombers as well as A-50 surveillance planes,” German Major General Christian Freuding said in a YouTube podcast reviewed by Reuters ahead of its publication later on Saturday.

The affected A-50s, which function similarly to NATO’s AWACS planes by providing aerial situational awareness, were likely non-operational when they were hit, said the general who coordinates Berlin’s military aid to Kyiv and is in close touch with the Ukrainian defense ministry.

“We believe that they can no longer be used for spare parts. This is a loss, as only a handful of these aircraft exist,” he said. “As for the long-range bomber fleet, 10 percent of it has been damaged in the attack according to our assessment.”

The United States estimates that Ukraine’s audacious drone attack hit as many as 20 Russian warplanes, destroying around 10 of them, two US officials told Reuters, and experts say Moscow will take years to replace the affected planes.

Despite the losses, Freuding does not see any immediate reduction of Russian strikes against Ukraine, noting that Moscow still retains 90 percent of its strategic bombers which can launch ballistic and cruise missiles in addition to dropping bombs.

“But there is, of course, an indirect effect as the remaining planes will need to fly more sorties, meaning they will be worn out faster, and, most importantly, there is a huge psychological impact.”

Freuding said Russia had felt safe in its vast territory, which also explained why there was little protection for the aircraft.

“After this successful operation, this no longer holds true. Russia will need to ramp up the security measures.”

According to Freuding, Ukraine attacked two air fields around 100 kilometers (62 miles) from Moscow, as well as the Olenya air field in the Murmansk region and the Belaya air field, with drones trained with the help of artificial intelligence.

A fifth attack on the Ukrainka air field near the Chinese border failed, he said.

The bombers that were hit were part of Russia’s so-called nuclear triad which enables nuclear weapons deployment by air, sea and ground, he added.