Singapore is to get a new Hindu temple, the first in 20 years. A new place of worship, representing any faith, is to be welcomed, especially in a multi-religious country. This new temple is dedicated to the two Gods Malayalees pray to, Guruvayoor Appan and Ayyappan.
This must be a significant and memorable moment for Singapore, where religious harmony is not just talked about but is etched into the Singaporean’s consciousness. The two Gods have a special meaning for me.
My grandmother had vowed that since I was the first boy after five girls, I should visit the Guruvayoor temple and offer bananas weighing as much as I do. I had to sit on one side of the huge old-fashioned weighing scale and balance it with bananas. I was a massive 200-pounder. Luckily, my grandmother didn’t pray for gold to be used as a counterweight.
My link with Ayyappan came many years later when I went on a pilgrimage to his temple. It was an arduous journey of preparation and walking barefoot up the hill for more than two hours. I did it for four years and learnt that life was not a bed of roses.
The temple will be built in Yishun GRC, where Minister K. Shanmugam is the lead MP. I am glad that he was candid and transparent when he said at a press conference: “It has been a long-standing desire, particularly among the Malayalee community here, and it will satisfy that…The Malayalee community will be happy.”
He was quick to add that other Hindu Indians, like Tamils, Telugus, and those from north India, can perform the poojas here, then go straight to the two temples in Kerala and complete their pilgrimage there.
The news is a godsend. Imagine the time saved and the pride of doing the preparatory rituals in the temple in your home country. Minister Shanmugam and his advisers must have thought hard before arriving at the decision. One of the issues they must have grappled with is the reaction of the other Indian communities, who could be asking: why not a temple for us?
Embedded in such a question must be the understanding that Singapore does not discriminate against any religion or race. Nearly every expat Indian who plants roots here is quick to say the decision to live here is because of safety. One told me recently: When my daughter leaves for a night out with friends, I know she will return home safe and sound.
Although it is not articulated in conversations, freedom to practise one’s religion is always at the back of their mind. Malayalees represent the second-largest community of Indian descent, after the Tamils.
Also, anecdotal evidence suggests that a number of Malayalees have emigrated and settled here in recent times. They play an active role in Malayalee organisations, and a number of Kerala restaurants have sprung up in recent times, bringing great culinary joy to people like me.
The Ayyapan and Guruvayoor temple is the 25th Hindu temple to be built in a small country like Singapore, and I hope the Hindu community will come together to celebrate the occasion.
