Immigration row turns into dinner invitation

It TAKES a lot to start a mass political campaign in Singapore, but there’s no better way than food. Tens of thousands of people in the southeast Asian city-state were eating curry yesterday in a protest highlighting issues over immigration.

The campaign began after an immigrant family from China complained about the smell of curry from a Singaporean Indian neighbour’s home.

A Facebook page supporting the Indian family has gained more than 57,600 members, many of whom cooked curry yesterday in a show of solidarity.

“Because we live in Singapore and Singapore is such a cramped place, neighbours should understand each others’ culture,” said Stanley Wong, 37, an accountant who helped organise the Facebook page.

He and a dozen others met in a small flat for a curry dinner. Most of the diners were ethnic Chinese, like the majority of Singapore’s 5.1 million people.

Residents say curry is a Singaporean dish and immigrants should accept it is part of the local culture.

Immigration is a sensitive subject in Singapore, where only two-thirds of the residents are citizens. Many say immigration policies attract too many foreigners, making it difficult to find jobs and pushing up the prices of homes.