The Gaps between Us: Multilingualism and Immigration in Alfian Sa’at’s Cook a Pot of Curry

This essay examines the role of English, multilingualism, translation, and Singapore’s local creole Singlish in Alfian Sa’at’s play Cook a Pot of Curry (2013). The play is set against a backdrop of Singapore’s National Population and Talent Division’s proposed plan to expedite population growth by granting permanent resident status to between fifteen thousand and twenty-five thousand individuals per year. Alfian captures the anxiety felt by many Singaporeans in anticipation of the immigration boom. Using a multilingual rhetoric characteristic of certain forms of Singaporean theatre since the 1980s, he challenges the Anglo-centric model of Singaporean identity that serves as a central theme in much of this modern anti-foreigner sentiment. Multilingualism and Singlish, Alfian proposes, might offer a means toward intercultural understanding and a way in which “the gaps between” Singaporeans and their foreign neighbors might be bridged.