Framed photograph of Ramasamy Suppiah being awarded the King’s Police Medal by Sir Cecil Clementi

This photograph shows Ramasamy Suppiah Naidu being awarded the King’s Police Medal by Sir Cecil Clementi, then Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Straits Settlements, at the Thomson Road Police Depot, Singapore on 13 April 1932.Ramasamy Suppiah was born in Malacca at the turn of the 20th century. In 1920, he and his Chitty Melaka (Peranakan Indian) wife, Kathai Ammal Chitty, moved to Singapore where he joined the police force, rising to the position of Detective Sergeant-Major. Peranakan Indians (also known as Chitty Melaka or Chetti Melaka) are descendants of South Indian traders (particularly Tamils) who settled in Malacca during the15th to 16th centuries and married local women of Malay and Chinese descent. They trace their roots to Kampung Chitty, in Gajah Berang, Malacca, and there is a small community numbering approximately 5,000 in Singapore.

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Framed photograph of Ramasamy Suppiah

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