Support for emerging hawkers vital to keep trade going

There was much chatter recently in Parliament and online forums on the future of Singapore's much-cherished hawker culture (Govt sets out ways it helps sustain hawker culture, alleviate cost pressures on Singaporeans, Nov 14).

- Ryan Kueh

Senior Minister of State for Manpower and Sustainability and the Environment Koh Poh Koon listed the Government's three objectives in its hawker policy - affordable food options, sustainability of the hawker trade, and the preservation of our unique "local" hawker culture.

However, the discussions merely scratched the surface of hawker issues, failing to adequately address two core tenets of hawker preservation: civic participation and a future-oriented hawker policy.

First, discussions have discounted the role of civic participation in supporting the hawker trade.

As a citizenry, we often take retiring popular hawkers as a yardstick of a dying trade, a misaligned benchmark given that they represent only a minority of hawkers.