#4 Evaluating Intercultural Behaviour

“Singapore’s multi-religious, multi-racial and secular society is not a weakness, but a strength” – Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean 

“Cosmopolitan”, “multi-racial” and “multi-linguistic” are some of the adjectives often used to describe Singapore, and Singapore’s government is proud of proclaim the little red dot as diverse yet harmonious. We even celebrate racial harmony day, something that little children look forward to (mainly because we get to wear ethnic costumes, performances – no lessons! – and a holiday).

However, how much of the above quotation by our deputy prime minister is factual reality, and how much is merely idealistic propaganda?

Singapore was touted as a food paradise, and it is not unheard of for Singaporeans to travel all the way from one end of the island to the other for the sake of good food. Curry, one of Singapore’s local specialties, is equally loved by most Singaporeans of all races, although different ethnic groups may prefer to prepare it differently.

All who loves curry, say AYE!

However, apparently not everyone would appreciate the much-loved local cuisine. Recently, the local newspaper, Today, published an article that caused a wave of outrage amongst many Singaporeans online, prompting many indigant netizens to protest and post on their blogs, and even a “Cook and Share A Pot of Curry” movement on Facebook that garnered 55,000 supporters.

The cause for this public outcry? A Chinese family who had recently arrived from mainland China, complained about the smell of curry emanating from their ethnic Indian neighbours’ house because they could not stand its smell. The PRC (People’s Republic of China) family then turned to the Community Mediation Centre (CMC) for help, even though their Indian neighbour, aware of their PRC’s neighbour’s dislike, had already taken measures such as closing their doors and windows when they were cooking curry.

According to Mdm Giam, the CMC mediator, the PRC family said, “Can you don’t cook curry? Can you please don’t eat curry?” In the end, the Indian family agreed to cook curry only when the PRC family was not home (although I wonder how on earth they are going to foresee that – maybe the PRC family will supply their neighbour with a crystal ball?) and in return, the Indian family wanted their neighbour to at least taste their curry.

Now, to non-Singaporeans, this may seem a trivial issue, but as a firm believer that the local cuisine is an integral and essential part of a country’s culture, this is truly shocked me. Curry is the basic Indian dish and is also favoured by Singaporean Chinese and Malays alike, thus it is fundamental to the Singaporean culture. Restricting it would be akin to restricting the rice from the Chinese diet, or meat to the Westerners.

To many Singaporeans, insulting our food is akin to insulting our national pride. Many incensed Singaporeans have objected that we are bullied in our own backyard (why should we limit our favourite food to the whims and preferences of non-natives?) and foreigners should learn to assimilate into the local culture, instead of expecting locals to accommodate and adjust to their way of life.

With more foreigners flooding Singapore in the recent years (Foreign-born Singapore citizens and permanent residents now make up 23 per cent of Singapore's resident population, up from 18 per cent in 2000), conflicts between the locals and foreigners are bound to arise, and these are usually caused by intercultural differences. How can we then move towards minimizing or preventing conflicts? Surely we cannot close off our country entirely and contrary to popular belief (and what the government seems to imply), most Singaporeans are not xenophobic by nature.

Let us first take a step back to better analyze this issue. Majority of the local netizens have sided with our fellow countrymen, chiding and criticizing the PRC family and even Mdm Giam for the final result. However, it should be noted that many of these comments are far from being biased. From the point of view of the PRC family, curries are not commonplace in mainland China and thus may come as a genuine culture shock to the PRC family, who may genuinely have difficulties acclimating themselves to the pungent fragrance of the dish. In fact, I personally know of Singaporeans who also dislike the strong fragrance; if it were a Singaporean family who had complained to CMC instead, would it still incur such a strong response? Most likely not.

In the PRC family’s defence, it has to be noted that they chose to resolve their conflict and unhappiness through a third-party mediation, whereby both parties come to a consensus by themselves, instead of a resolution imposed upon both parties by the mediator, which was a conclusion most were too hasty to jump to. Indeed, there are worse endings to this scenario; the PRC family could have complained to the police, retaliated in kind by purposely being inconsiderate, or taken it to court, as in the Everitt Road dispute (another tension between neighbours), thus further souring relations. Mediation, on the other hand, aims to amicably and fairly resolve disputes, and seems to have been a wise choice of action taken.

However, the PRC family was not entirely blameless either. “When in Rome, do as the Romans do” has been the general rule of thumb that the Singapore society subscribes to, and the lack of ability to assimilate into the local culture here has raised flak amongst the locals. It is quite likely that they did not understand how fundamental curry is in their neighbours’ culture; to them, it is nothing more than an irritating and repugnant smell.

I believe that the root of Singaporean’s displeasure lies with the fact that the PRC family seemingly did not proactively take steps to understand the local culture. As mentioned, there are some Singaporeans who dislike its smell, too, yet the local Chinese and Malays simply tolerate it because they understand the feelings of their Indian peers.

Singaporeans should also not be too quick to judge the PRC family. Many details were unclear: could it be possible that the Indian family were cooking curry at strange hours of the day (for example, late into the night or in the early morning)?

Lastly, it would be detrimental to label all PRCs as highly intolerant and unwilling to integrate harmoniously into the local culture: in fact, many PRCs do. Just look around you! (If you’re from engineering, high chance you’d know quite a few peers from mainland China). In this scenario, I personally feel that the Indian family do have the moral upper hand, but as a (Singaporean) netizen commented, “we shouldn’t stereotype all foreigners by the actions of a few”. Before these netizens get their blood pressure up, they should refrain from stereotyping, generalizing and making sweeping statements. Instead, we should reach out to non-natives and assist them in every way we can to integrate better into Singapore’s society, and prove that Singapore is indeed a gracious, multi-racial, multi-cultural and harmonious city to live in.

Perhaps I may have missed out on considering some issues myself. If you were the Indian or PRC family, how would you have handled your neighbour’s unhappiness better? What would you have done differently? For example, it was not stated that the two neighbours to what extent were the discussions held between the two parties; there was only a hint that the PRC family had made their displeasure known to the Indian family. Maybe if the Indian family invited their neighbour over for a pot of curry, they might have been able to overcome the overwhelming smell and grow to like the cuisine instead. Perhaps the Indian family, as natives of the host country, could be more welcoming and act as a guide to the ways of the locals to the PRCs? Or maybe, the PRC family could have been more proactive in understanding the local culture (although they may have taken such steps already, once again we do not know)? What do you think?