Singapore's 'anti-Chinese curry war'
What began as a quarrel over the pungent aromas wafting from one family's kitchen has bubbled up into Singapore's spiciest protest movement, with 40,000 people set to express their national pride this weekend by cooking curry.
The mediator ruled that the Indian family could only cook curry when the Chinese family was not at home Photo: AFP/GETTY IMAGES
By Malcolm Moore, Shanghai
12:06PM BST 16 Aug 2011
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Curry is one of Singapore's national dishes, a dish that is equally loved, although in different forms, by the island's British, Chinese, Indian and Malay populations.
So there was an instant uproar when a local newspaper reported that one Chinese family, recently arrived from the mainland, had taken offence at their Indian neighbours' dining habits.
"The family resorted to mediation because they could not stand the smell of curry," reported the Today newspaper. "The Indian family, who were mindful of their neighbours' aversion, had already taken to closing their doors and windows whenever they cooked the dish, but this was not enough," it added.
Instead, the unnamed Chinese family took their neighbours to Singapore's Community Mediation Centre for a ruling on the matter.
Marcellina Giam, the mediator, eventually ruled that the Indian family could only cook curry when the Chinese family was not at home. In return, the Chinese family promised to try the dish.
The judgment incensed Singaporeans, many of whom have eyed a recent flood of mainland Chinese immigrants with some disdain.
Almost a million mainland Chinese have arrived in recent years, making up a fifth of the island's population. Singapore's native Chinese population have been particularly upset by the newcomers, many of whom do not come from the provinces of Fujian and Guangdong that provided the original wave of immigrants before the Second World War. Most also do not speak English, which remains Singapore's national language.
"I am incensed with a People's Republic of China family telling my fellowmen not to cook curry," wrote Rosalind Lee, one of hundreds of commencers on the Today newspaper's website. "Almost all Singaporean homes cook curry. The mediator should tell the PRC family to adjust and adapt to Singapore's way of life and not tell the locals to adjust to the foreigner's way of life!" she added.
What began as a quarrel over the pungent aromas wafting from one family's kitchen has bubbled up into Singapore's spiciest protest movement, with 40,000 people set to express their national pride this weekend by cooking curry.
The mediator ruled that the Indian family could only cook curry when the Chinese family was not at home Photo: AFP/GETTY IMAGES
By Malcolm Moore, Shanghai
12:06PM BST 16 Aug 2011
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Curry is one of Singapore's national dishes, a dish that is equally loved, although in different forms, by the island's British, Chinese, Indian and Malay populations.
So there was an instant uproar when a local newspaper reported that one Chinese family, recently arrived from the mainland, had taken offence at their Indian neighbours' dining habits.
"The family resorted to mediation because they could not stand the smell of curry," reported the Today newspaper. "The Indian family, who were mindful of their neighbours' aversion, had already taken to closing their doors and windows whenever they cooked the dish, but this was not enough," it added.
Instead, the unnamed Chinese family took their neighbours to Singapore's Community Mediation Centre for a ruling on the matter.
Marcellina Giam, the mediator, eventually ruled that the Indian family could only cook curry when the Chinese family was not at home. In return, the Chinese family promised to try the dish.
The judgment incensed Singaporeans, many of whom have eyed a recent flood of mainland Chinese immigrants with some disdain.
Almost a million mainland Chinese have arrived in recent years, making up a fifth of the island's population. Singapore's native Chinese population have been particularly upset by the newcomers, many of whom do not come from the provinces of Fujian and Guangdong that provided the original wave of immigrants before the Second World War. Most also do not speak English, which remains Singapore's national language.
"I am incensed with a People's Republic of China family telling my fellowmen not to cook curry," wrote Rosalind Lee, one of hundreds of commencers on the Today newspaper's website. "Almost all Singaporean homes cook curry. The mediator should tell the PRC family to adjust and adapt to Singapore's way of life and not tell the locals to adjust to the foreigner's way of life!" she added.
