Tracking Incidence and Reasons for Disappearance of Traditional Hawker Trades or Culinary Practices
Ministry of Culture, Community and YouthSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns whether the Government tracks traditional hawker trades at risk of disappearing and whether a formal mechanism should be established to support their transmission. Mr Victor Lye asked the Minister for Culture, Community and Youth if practices endangered by ageing practitioners, lack of successors, or commercial viability are monitored following Singapore's UNESCO inscription. Mr David Neo replied that the Government does not maintain an at-risk list because retiring or handing over stalls remains a personal decision. Nonetheless, the National Environment Agency facilitates skills transmission and lowers barriers for new entrants via the Hawkers' Succession Scheme, the Incubation Stall Programme, and stall tenders without minimum bids. Furthermore, the National Heritage Board supports research and documentation to safeguard hawker culture as intangible cultural heritage across generations.
Transcript
96 Mr Victor Lye asked the Minister for Culture, Community and Youth (a) whether, following Singapore's UNESCO inscription of hawker culture, the Government tracks traditional hawker trades or culinary practices at risk of disappearing due to ageing practitioners, lack of successors or commercial viability; and (b) whether a formal mechanism should be established to identify such practices and support their transmission to the next generation.
Mr David Neo: The Government does not maintain a list of individual hawker trades or culinary practices that are considered "at risk of disappearing". We recognise that whether hawkers want to retire and/or pass on their stalls to successors are ultimately personal decisions.
Nonetheless, we have measures to support the transmission of hawker skills and knowledge for those who wish to do so. For example, the National Environment Agency's (NEA's) Hawkers' Succession Scheme enables veteran hawkers to pass on their skills, recipes and hawker stalls to aspiring hawkers.
NEA's Incubation Stall Programme supports aspiring hawkers by lowering barriers to entry through pre-fitted stalls and reduced rentals for 15 months. NEA also maintains a conducive environment for new entrants to the hawker trade, including measures to keep rents reasonable, such as not requiring a minimum bid price for hawker stall tenders.
The National Heritage Board also supports the documentation and research of our hawker culture, as part of broader efforts to safeguard our intangible cultural heritage, and facilitate its transmission across generations.
These efforts seek to sustain our hawker culture by supporting both the transmission of hawker skills and knowledge, as well as the entry of a new generation of hawkers.