21 August 2011, the third Sunday of August, was not a Public
Holiday. But there were more than 60,000 Facebook users
responded to the activity of 【Cook A Pot of Curry】
to share with your family, neighbours and friends.
The persons who initiated the activity in the Facebook requested
the users to read the full article carefully and response to it.
After reading the article, I was one of the 60,000+.
Several years ago, a new immigrant could not get used to the smell of curry cooked by the Indian neighbour and caused a dispute. The case was later settled that when the family of
the new immigrant was not in, then the Indian family might cook curry.
I did not know when the case was happened. About seven years ago, I got the similar case. A neighbour whom I did not know came to ask for my help. He said that his upstairs Indian neighbour always spill on the clothes they hung outside the window. I looked at him. I did not see him before. I was curious that I did not hear anybody complaint about after staying there for more than ten years. I advised him to report to the Resident's Committee or the Neighbourhood Police Post. I did not see that immigrant family any more. The young couple migrated to Australia and a few years later the elder couple and the grandchildren too. But our Indian neighbour family is still there.
Our grandparents were not Talents. They came to Singapore about a century ago because they had to escape from the wars and famine.
I remembered well what my father told me about his stories.
When he first arrived in Singapore, A Malaya neighbour used to
come and chat with him at night. Quite often, they chatted until 2 a.m. I wondered what they were talking. My father said that
he told the neighbour about his home town in China. My father also said that the Malay neighbour should talk about the life in Singapore. I asked my father whether he understood Malay. He said that definitely did not know. He spoke Teochew and the Malay spoke Malay.
Our ancestors were farmers. When they came to Singapore, they
talked to Malay neighbour using each other's own languages.
Later they learned and spoke Malay. We had many Malay friends and they used to give us their home-made cookies during their
festivals.
We had Indian neighbours and we knew about curry when we were young. I knew about Roti Perata and Chinese Curry Noodle when
I was at Primary School.
Curry is the favourite food of many Singaporeans. Other than taking foods of other races, we have built up a Nation of Harmony
after so many years.
When we accept the foreign talents, we need to have a clear mind.
What we need is to invite foreigners to live with our people
with harmony. We are a multi-racial nation. We need those who
come to our country to maintain the harmonious society and to
work hand in hand with us for a better tomorrow.
The farmers and their children are able to build a beautiful and peaceful Nation. Attitude is important and essential.
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