Curry has more support than candidates in Singapore election

A push to cook curry this weekend has overshadowed the presidential election in Singapore. It's a sign of voter discontent over immigration and different cultures.

By Bloomberg News

The four candidates competing to become Singapore's next president are losing out to an unlikely rival on the campaign trail: curry.

As the contenders vie for the mainly ceremonial role before the Aug. 27 election, more than 55,000 people have pledged support for a Facebook page urging citizens to cook curry this weekend. The online protest began after the Today newspaper said a Singaporean family was pressured by its migrant Chinese neighbors to stop cooking the dish because of its odor.

The furor generated by the incident reflects increasing voter discontent over immigration in the nation, where 35 percent of the population of 5.1 million people are foreigners.

"I didn't expect it to go viral," said Flor Leow, a Singaporean of mixed ancestry in her 40s who started the "Cook and Share a Pot of Curry" page with friends and plans to make fish and chicken curries on Sunday. "We put up the event to say 'let's not argue, let's not quarrel, let's learn to tolerate, embrace and appreciate our multicultural way of life.' "

The Facebook sites of the four presidential candidates have attracted about a third the number of endorsements garnered by the curry campaign