Tamil Murasu Celebrates 90 Years as the Voice and Chronicle of the Tamil Community in Singapore

Singapore, 6 July 2025 – Tamil Murasu (TM), Singapore’s only Tamil-language daily and one of the oldest newspapers in the region, marks its 90th anniversary this year — celebrating nine decades of chronicling the Tamil community’s voice, values, and aspirations.

Founded in 1935 by pioneering community leader G. Sarangapany, TM has grown from a humble community paper into a trusted and modern media brand. Today, it remains the definitive source of news, culture and commentary for Tamil-speaking Singaporeans, and a vital bridge between generations.

To commemorate this milestone, TM is rolling out a series of initiatives that celebrate its legacy while charting its future — including a youth forum, community dialogues, and the publication of both a coffee-table photo book and a definitive history book on TM’s evolution and impact.

Deepening community partnership

As part of its continued commitment to serve and engage the community, TM has signed three significant Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) with the following strategic partners :

• Hindu Tamil Thisai, a leading Tamil daily in India, to collaborate on content exchange and broaden the range of perspectives available to readers;
• Singapore Indian Development Association (SINDA), to co-organise youth-focused dialogues and amplify SINDA’s education and outreach programmes;
• Singapore Indian Education Trust, to jointly relaunch the G. Sarangapany Education Trust Fund — supporting Tamil students and preserving the founder’s legacy in education.

Championing culture, literacy and youth engagement

Beyond news reporting, TM has long played a formative and critical role in Tamil literacy and literary development — through school outreach and its educational publications Balar Murasu, Maanavar Murasu, and Ilayar Murasu, which nurture Tamil language appreciation from pre-school to secondary level.

In October 2023, TM also took a bold step forward with the launch of its mobile app — offering readers daily news, culture, entertainment, videos, podcasts, bilingual stories and Tamil language tips anytime, anywhere. Designed to appeal to younger audiences while staying rooted in heritage, the app clinched Silver for Best New Digital Product at the 2025 International News Media Association (INMA) Global Media Awards, affirming TM’s relevance in the digital era.

To further expand its reach among younger, digital-native audiences, TM also introduced Ilaya Thalaimurai (IT) — a social media-first content initiative tailored to youth interests, platforms and formats. Through vibrant storytelling and culturally resonant content, IT aims to connect young Tamil Singaporeans with their roots in ways that are dynamic, relatable and future facing.

A living chronicle of the community

Over the past 90 years, TM has documented the Tamil community’s journey — from early migration and nation-building, to today’s thriving and diverse presence across Singapore’s social, cultural and professional spheres. Mr Raja Segar, Editor of TM, said, “For generations, Tamil Murasu has been more than a newspaper — it has been a mirror of the community, a platform for expression, and a champion for Tamil identity, language and values. As we turn 90, we honour our past, and more importantly, reaffirm our mission to stay connected to our readers, especially the next generation, through innovation, inclusivity and storytelling that speaks to the heart.”

Published by SPH Media

Tamil Murasu is published by SPH Media, which has the largest digital reach amongst Singapore news publishers. Through its multimedia network, the latest survey findings by GfK show that SPH Media reaches 8 in 10 Singapore residents. SPH Media is home to its sister flagship - The Straits Times, which the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism reported to be Singapore’s most trusted news source in 2025. SPH Media is also the nation's most awarded news organisation, according to authoritative international associations INMA, the World Association of News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), and the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA).

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