• In Singapore and Malaysia, usage of this term reflects the region’s unique multi-racial societies.
• The characters “华” and “印” refer to the Chinese and Indians, respectively. As for the use of the character “巫” to refer to Malays, it is said that this first appeared in records of early Chinese voyages to
  Nanyang (literally, “south seas”, referring to Southeast Asia), in which the Malays were referred to as “巫来由”. The term “巫来由” is the transliteration of the Malay word Melayu. The modern transliteration of Melayu into “马来” or “马来由” only appeared later.
• Use of the character “巫” to refer to Malays is more common in Malaysia than in Singapore, and has given rise to other terms such as “巫族” (the Malay race), “巫人” (Malay person/people), and “巫裔” (people of Malay descent).

The 11 core volunteers led by the retired Major Penny include members from Singapore’s four major races, namely Chinese, Malay, Indian and Eurasian. Over the past six years, he has worked hard to unite everyone and expanded from one singing group into three groups. He has also provided assistance to people with low income or no income who live in HDB rental flats, regardless of their race or religion. (Lianhe Wanbao, 7/4/2019)