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What Thaipusam taught me about the long march to integration
As participation surges at the annual pilgrimage, I experience a real-world stress test for Singapore’s social cohesion with locals and migrants sharing the same tight space.
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It is clear that interest in Thaipusam is growing and 2026 saw a historic high of 19,000 participants.
ST PHOTO: GAVIN FOO
Attending Thaipusam as a devotee for the first time in 10 years gave me a front-row seat to its changes over the past decade – not just the incidental ones, but the rapid scale at which the religious festival has grown over the years, and the new set of organisational challenges it faces.
Barricades heaved at times from the sheer masses they sought to contain along the historic, well-trodden 3.2km route from Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple in Serangoon Road towards Sri Thendayuthapani Temple in Tank Road on Feb 1.
