chapter 2 The Journey of Isser Singh: A Sikh Migrant in Shanghai
So far, the Sikhs in Shanghai has largely been discussed within the realm of British imperial history. Narratives on the circulation of the martial race ide- ology and the establishment of Sikh police forces in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Shanghai are mainly written from the standpoint of the British authorities. The motivations, considerations, and daily work and life of the colonized have been left out. This chapter diverts our attention from the British authorities to the Sikh diaspora. Taking the case of Isser Singh, a Sikh constable who served in the Shanghai Municipal Police from 1906 to 1911, as an example, this chapter exhibits the specific context of Sikh migration in Shanghai. As a global microhistory, it con- tends that individuals such as Isser Singh were not voiceless subjects who were constantly under the manipulation of colonial authorities. Instead, the Sikh migrants played a crucial role in shaping policies in various colonies and settle- ments. Furthermore, Sikhs were all too ready to exploit the colonial network to pursue their own interests. As a translocal history, the chapter demonstrates that facilities and provisions for Sikh constables in Shanghai were neither nov- el nor locally invented, but products of translocal circulation of institutions, knowledge, and information.
A Peasant’s Son in the Punjab
Since no letter, diary, or memoir has yet been discovered, primary sources on Sikh constables in the smp are mostly government archives, newspapers, and court testimonies. The case of Isser Singh is no exception, as details of this man’s life are scattered across news reports about daily crimes and court investigations. By reorganizing these primary sources and by referring to the contemporary context, the following content tries to reconstruct the course of Isser Singh’s diasporic experience and the world he inhabited. None of the sources such as newspapers indicates which part in the Punjab Isser Singh came from. Since Isser Singh took part in a strike organized by Sikhs from the Majha region of the Punjab to protest against the smc’s decision to remove a Majha Sikh interpreter in July 1910, he was probably from a village in
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Majha, in eastern Punjab.1 In fact, in the early twentieth century, nearly 70 per- cent of Sikh constables in the smp were from the Majha region, with smaller numbers mainly from the Malwa region, also in eastern Punjab.2 Majha Sikhs and Malwa Sikhs dominated Sikh police forces in other British colonies and settlements, too. This representation of certain regions of the Punjab was not a coincidence but one that had local socio-economic grounds. The Punjab was annexed by the British after the second Anglo-Sikh War in 1848, and the socio-economic structure of this area underwent a dramatic change. During the Sikh kingdom period, most high-caste Sikh males were professional military men in the Khalsa.3 After the defeat of the Sikh army, the British authorities in the Punjab set out to take steps to disarm the Sikh soldiers for fear that they would rise against British rule. Several thousand Sikh
Majha District
Malwa District
Figure 7 Map of Punjab in the British Raj Courtesy of View Punjab Project
1 For details of the strike, see “Trouble Among the Sikhs,” North China Herald, July 22, 1910; “The Sikh Police,” North China Herald, July 29, 1910. 2 “rex (s.m.p.) v. Twenty Indian Police Constables,” North China Herald, July 29, 1910. 3 The Khalsa is the religious order established by Guru Gobind Singh in 1699. It later devel- oped into a military organization that promised to fight for protecting the Sikhism, see W.H. McLeod, The Sikhs: History, Religion, and Society (New York: Columbia University Press, 1989), 143.