The Straits Times, April 21, 2007
By Neo Hui Min, Straits Times Europe Bureau
LONDON 2,500 SINGAPOREANS
London has a large community of Singaporeans and there are many different events to help them stay in touch with home. Those that involve eating seem to be the most popular
TASTE OF HOME: The singaporeans, together with their foreign spouses and friends, sitting down for a meal at the Satay House Restaurant in London on Thursday. The get-together meal was organised by Mr San Choo after he noted interest from a Singaporean online forum.
LONDON - IT WAS a very Singaporean, or South-east Asian, spread: beef rendang (curried beef), kari kambing (mutton curry), ayam percik (spicy barbecued chicken), sambal tumis udang (prawn with chilli paste) and sayur campur (mixed vegetables).
But the venue was not a nasi padang joint in Singapore. It was Edgware Road, London.
On Thursday night, 36 Singaporeans and their foreign spouses and friends turned up at the Satay House Restaurant for a meal together. Many met for the first time but they were brought together by their enthusiasm for Singaporean food.
Organiser San Choo, 59, said: 'This is just the first in a series of regular meals.'
Mr Choo, an event organiser, left Singapore four decades ago. He decided to put together a dinner after noting interest on a Singaporean forum on the Overseas Singaporean online portal.
He heard about the portal from a niece in Singapore, and promptly logged on.
He said: 'It became a way for me to renew my links with Singapore.'
Asked why he took 40 years to organise such a function, he said: 'I think as one gets older, one gets more nostalgic about one's country.'
As they are conversant with English, most Singaporeans living in London generally do not have problems blending in. However, many like Mr Choo like to hang out with their fellow countrymen to stay in touch with developments back home.
Take information architect Cere Che Yok. As she wanted to integrate with the locals, she had taken pains to distance herself from fellow Singaporeans when she arrived in London about five years ago.
But last year, she co-founded a network of Singaporean creative practitioners based in London.
'I started to feel a bit detached from Singapore, but I planned to go back. I wasn't sure if I would fit in, so I thought I should make contact with Singaporeans to see what I needed to do to fit in back home,' Mrs Cere said.
These days, her group meets regularly, and last year even put up an exhibit during the London Design Festival. It is now planning a screening of Singaporean short films.
It is not uncommon for Singaporeans to seek out their fellow countrymen upon arriving in the city.
Mr Moses Lin, who studied law in University College London (UCL), certainly did so when he landed in London four years ago.
The 25-year-old said: 'They (fellow Singaporeans living in London) have local knowledge about housing practices and transport issues, for example. They know the way things are done in London, and it has made things like opening a bank account and getting a phone line easier for me.'
Even Ms Christina Quek, who is married to an Englishman, felt 'rather lost' when she first moved to London in 2003.
The business consultant-cum-photographer decided to organise the dinner with Mr Choo, so that she could provide support to fellow Singaporeans.
'My husband gave me a lot of support when I first arrived but I still felt lost. I do not want any Singaporeans, whether they are married or single, young or old, to feel lost. If there is any way I can provide support and help them to ease into living in the UK, I want to do my bit. I am also hoping this group will eventually be able to give each other support and help,' she said.
Indeed, Singaporeans are brought together in many formal and informal groups.
Universities such as UCL, Imperial College and the London School of Economics have Singaporean societies. Mr Lin was chairman of the United Kingdom-Singapore Students' Council, an umbrella association grouping all these university student bodies.
Former students of Singapore schools such as the former Hwa Chong Junior College have their own alumni chapters in Britain.
Business professionals converge under the banner of the Singapore Business Group which organises events such as talks with industry leaders, while the Singapore-UK Association (Suka) encompasses students and professional members, and has about 300 on its list.
In addition, there are set-ups such as the Singapore Creative Network UK and the Singapore Professionals Network, to provide mentoring and networking.
The number of such associations underscores the significant number of Singaporeans living in London. While there are no official statistics on the number of Singaporeans living in London, a ballpark estimate is around 2,500.
Around half of these are students. The rest are mostly professionals.
Miss Sylvia Lim, 35, returned to Singapore last month after working for two years as a business development manager in London. She noted: 'It is rather fascinating to know the diversity of people in London, I may not meet similar people in Singapore.'
And if there is a good way to gather Singaporeans together, it would be food.
Events involving Singaporean food are often well-attended.
A chilli crab festival organised by Tiger Beer last year attracted not just long queues of Singaporeans but also non-Singaporeans, with the day's portions of crabs sold out in just two hours.
Meanwhile the Kiasu Cafe in Bayswater, specialising in hawker food such as char kway teow and laksa, plays host to a mahjong competition organised by Suka this weekend.
Although many turn up for Singaporean events, just as many others prefer to stay away, as Dr Elaine Ho - who recently completed her PhD in UCL on issues of migration and citizenship for overseas Singaporeans - found.
They may desire a 'foreign experience' or they may want to detach themselves from others who may be seen as 'excessively Singaporean in their mindsets and behaviour'. Or they may simply be resisting initiatives by the Singaporean state to keep in touch, she noted.
Those who 'remain out of the loop' of formal networks, however, do stay in contact with individual fellow countrymen, she said.
'A number of them have told me that to them, this is sufficient as a means for them to remain in touch with happenings in Singapore. In fact, they prefer the 'organic' development of an overseas Singaporean community rather than a top-down and institutionalised approach,' she said.
Dr Ho noted that while she would attend a Singapore Day in London and that food would be a good strategy to draw Singaporeans together, she is 'also cautious that other aspects of the event should not come across as cliche or merely another marketing gimmick'.
'Past events in London, such as Singapore Season, have not scored highly with some sectors of the overseas Singaporean community who claimed that it was not representative of Singaporean society; that it spent far more money than was worth the returns; and that it was poorly received by both Singaporeans and Londoners,' she noted, citing some comments from her research.
A Singapore Day may hence not reach out to these Singaporeans who typically stay away from formalised events.
'My personal take on this is that the organisers need to have a clear idea of what their goals are for such an event, who the target audience is for their initiatives and how they wish to represent Singapore in executing such an event,' she said.
By Neo Hui Min, Straits Times Europe Bureau
LONDON 2,500 SINGAPOREANS
London has a large community of Singaporeans and there are many different events to help them stay in touch with home. Those that involve eating seem to be the most popular
TASTE OF HOME: The singaporeans, together with their foreign spouses and friends, sitting down for a meal at the Satay House Restaurant in London on Thursday. The get-together meal was organised by Mr San Choo after he noted interest from a Singaporean online forum.LONDON - IT WAS a very Singaporean, or South-east Asian, spread: beef rendang (curried beef), kari kambing (mutton curry), ayam percik (spicy barbecued chicken), sambal tumis udang (prawn with chilli paste) and sayur campur (mixed vegetables).
But the venue was not a nasi padang joint in Singapore. It was Edgware Road, London.
On Thursday night, 36 Singaporeans and their foreign spouses and friends turned up at the Satay House Restaurant for a meal together. Many met for the first time but they were brought together by their enthusiasm for Singaporean food.
Organiser San Choo, 59, said: 'This is just the first in a series of regular meals.'
Mr Choo, an event organiser, left Singapore four decades ago. He decided to put together a dinner after noting interest on a Singaporean forum on the Overseas Singaporean online portal.
He heard about the portal from a niece in Singapore, and promptly logged on.
He said: 'It became a way for me to renew my links with Singapore.'
Asked why he took 40 years to organise such a function, he said: 'I think as one gets older, one gets more nostalgic about one's country.'
As they are conversant with English, most Singaporeans living in London generally do not have problems blending in. However, many like Mr Choo like to hang out with their fellow countrymen to stay in touch with developments back home.
Take information architect Cere Che Yok. As she wanted to integrate with the locals, she had taken pains to distance herself from fellow Singaporeans when she arrived in London about five years ago.
But last year, she co-founded a network of Singaporean creative practitioners based in London.
'I started to feel a bit detached from Singapore, but I planned to go back. I wasn't sure if I would fit in, so I thought I should make contact with Singaporeans to see what I needed to do to fit in back home,' Mrs Cere said.
These days, her group meets regularly, and last year even put up an exhibit during the London Design Festival. It is now planning a screening of Singaporean short films.
It is not uncommon for Singaporeans to seek out their fellow countrymen upon arriving in the city.
Mr Moses Lin, who studied law in University College London (UCL), certainly did so when he landed in London four years ago.
The 25-year-old said: 'They (fellow Singaporeans living in London) have local knowledge about housing practices and transport issues, for example. They know the way things are done in London, and it has made things like opening a bank account and getting a phone line easier for me.'
Even Ms Christina Quek, who is married to an Englishman, felt 'rather lost' when she first moved to London in 2003.
The business consultant-cum-photographer decided to organise the dinner with Mr Choo, so that she could provide support to fellow Singaporeans.
'My husband gave me a lot of support when I first arrived but I still felt lost. I do not want any Singaporeans, whether they are married or single, young or old, to feel lost. If there is any way I can provide support and help them to ease into living in the UK, I want to do my bit. I am also hoping this group will eventually be able to give each other support and help,' she said.
Indeed, Singaporeans are brought together in many formal and informal groups.
Universities such as UCL, Imperial College and the London School of Economics have Singaporean societies. Mr Lin was chairman of the United Kingdom-Singapore Students' Council, an umbrella association grouping all these university student bodies.
Former students of Singapore schools such as the former Hwa Chong Junior College have their own alumni chapters in Britain.
Business professionals converge under the banner of the Singapore Business Group which organises events such as talks with industry leaders, while the Singapore-UK Association (Suka) encompasses students and professional members, and has about 300 on its list.
In addition, there are set-ups such as the Singapore Creative Network UK and the Singapore Professionals Network, to provide mentoring and networking.
The number of such associations underscores the significant number of Singaporeans living in London. While there are no official statistics on the number of Singaporeans living in London, a ballpark estimate is around 2,500.
Around half of these are students. The rest are mostly professionals.
Miss Sylvia Lim, 35, returned to Singapore last month after working for two years as a business development manager in London. She noted: 'It is rather fascinating to know the diversity of people in London, I may not meet similar people in Singapore.'
And if there is a good way to gather Singaporeans together, it would be food.
Events involving Singaporean food are often well-attended.
A chilli crab festival organised by Tiger Beer last year attracted not just long queues of Singaporeans but also non-Singaporeans, with the day's portions of crabs sold out in just two hours.
Meanwhile the Kiasu Cafe in Bayswater, specialising in hawker food such as char kway teow and laksa, plays host to a mahjong competition organised by Suka this weekend.
Although many turn up for Singaporean events, just as many others prefer to stay away, as Dr Elaine Ho - who recently completed her PhD in UCL on issues of migration and citizenship for overseas Singaporeans - found.
They may desire a 'foreign experience' or they may want to detach themselves from others who may be seen as 'excessively Singaporean in their mindsets and behaviour'. Or they may simply be resisting initiatives by the Singaporean state to keep in touch, she noted.
Those who 'remain out of the loop' of formal networks, however, do stay in contact with individual fellow countrymen, she said.
'A number of them have told me that to them, this is sufficient as a means for them to remain in touch with happenings in Singapore. In fact, they prefer the 'organic' development of an overseas Singaporean community rather than a top-down and institutionalised approach,' she said.
Dr Ho noted that while she would attend a Singapore Day in London and that food would be a good strategy to draw Singaporeans together, she is 'also cautious that other aspects of the event should not come across as cliche or merely another marketing gimmick'.
'Past events in London, such as Singapore Season, have not scored highly with some sectors of the overseas Singaporean community who claimed that it was not representative of Singaporean society; that it spent far more money than was worth the returns; and that it was poorly received by both Singaporeans and Londoners,' she noted, citing some comments from her research.
A Singapore Day may hence not reach out to these Singaporeans who typically stay away from formalised events.
'My personal take on this is that the organisers need to have a clear idea of what their goals are for such an event, who the target audience is for their initiatives and how they wish to represent Singapore in executing such an event,' she said.
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