Armenian Apostolic Church of St Gregory the Illuminator. [Photo provided to China Daily]

In 1822, three years after Raffles arrived in Singapore, he implemented the Raffles Town Plan to tackle growing disorderliness in the colony. Under the plan, ethnic residential areas were subdivided into four areas. The European Town had residents made up of European traders, Eurasians and rich Asians, while the ethnic Chinese were located in present-day Chinatown and southeast of the Singapore River. Ethnic Indians resided at Chulia Kampong north of Chinatown, and Kampong Glam consisted of Muslims, ethnic Malays and Arabs who had immigrated to Singapore.

"Since the founding of Singapore in 1965, the government has taken aggressive measures to build a multiethnic society with a high level of inclusion for all groups," Chu says. The policy is best illustrated by the country's public housing system: apartments from one building must be allocated to applicants from different ethnic groups according to a certain percentage.