- Joined
- Dec 30, 2010
- Messages
- 12,730
- Points
- 113
“THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD STAY OUT OF THIS”
One would think such efforts to keep the hawker trade alive would be lauded by advocates like Mr Seetoh.
I’m surprised when he says otherwise.
“I think the Government should stay out of this. They are not fit. They are not qualified,” he says definitively.
I ask him to explain his statements.
“Because they’re only throwing money at you. Hawker work is tough. Just because the Government wants to incubate you, doesn’t mean this job is easy. You have to cook well, know how to reach people, know how to cook a hundred portions an hour and so on. A short course is not enough and pumping money into the industry to fire this up may not be helpful. It gives people the impression that it is so easy. They say, ‘Let's go and do a ‘try, try’ thing’. It’s easy to walk out when you are funded by somebody else’s money, but if it’s your own and you realise that this is good, this is what you really want to do, it’s a different story.”
I suggest that if the Government stopped these initiatives, it would be even harder to keep the trade going. Even the ones who currently try may not consider it.
“Let’s attract the real ones. I'd rather encourage you to come out on your own because that will be more organic and you will be in it not because you got funding. It’s your own money. It’s your own belief. Go and learn as an apprentice. Go and work for a hawker for one year. The hawker may or may not teach you everything, but if you have slightly more than half a brain, you will be able to figure out the entire story and do it on your own later.
"If you just take some funding and go for some Government programmes, you will still wind up with not much. The more successful newer-generation hawkers are those who came out on their own and they are still around despite the failures. They took time to learn. They didn’t fall the minute they came across the first wall."
What would he suggest to encourage more such hawkers then?
“It’s the same story as in the past. People went into the hawker business back in the day because they were desperate. Today, I think there’s more reason for you to be desperate again. A lot of jobs are going to the machines, the computers and Artificial Intelligence (AI). Maybe food is something AI cannot fully take over because people are spoilt with the pleasure of artisanal food.”
But even though consumers enjoy hawker food, in some quarters, being a hawker is still seen as a profession that lacks status.
“If we enjoy food, we can’t see it that way. It’s a very noble profession today. If you can think about it: ‘Wow, hey, maybe I like to dredge up this food that I believe in and love and I know that I’ve got a story to tell about this food and I want to sell and tell. And I want to go out and do it because it makes me happy and because I know I can generate some money from this'."
“LET THIS FOOD CULTURE DIE”
I’m sceptical about whether enough people will realise this on their own, but he reiterates the Government should “stay out of this”.
"Just give people very good, reasonable rents and tell them where to get their supplies. Let them figure out on their own how to be good, how to be better."
Often, the issue of rent is raised as a hurdle to hawkers’ success. However, the NEA has taken a few measures to stabilise rents. This includes disallowing subletting and not setting a reserve rent when tendering out vacant stalls.
Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/new...-singapore-hawker-food-on-the-record-10299626
One would think such efforts to keep the hawker trade alive would be lauded by advocates like Mr Seetoh.
I’m surprised when he says otherwise.
“I think the Government should stay out of this. They are not fit. They are not qualified,” he says definitively.
I ask him to explain his statements.
“Because they’re only throwing money at you. Hawker work is tough. Just because the Government wants to incubate you, doesn’t mean this job is easy. You have to cook well, know how to reach people, know how to cook a hundred portions an hour and so on. A short course is not enough and pumping money into the industry to fire this up may not be helpful. It gives people the impression that it is so easy. They say, ‘Let's go and do a ‘try, try’ thing’. It’s easy to walk out when you are funded by somebody else’s money, but if it’s your own and you realise that this is good, this is what you really want to do, it’s a different story.”
I suggest that if the Government stopped these initiatives, it would be even harder to keep the trade going. Even the ones who currently try may not consider it.
“Let’s attract the real ones. I'd rather encourage you to come out on your own because that will be more organic and you will be in it not because you got funding. It’s your own money. It’s your own belief. Go and learn as an apprentice. Go and work for a hawker for one year. The hawker may or may not teach you everything, but if you have slightly more than half a brain, you will be able to figure out the entire story and do it on your own later.
"If you just take some funding and go for some Government programmes, you will still wind up with not much. The more successful newer-generation hawkers are those who came out on their own and they are still around despite the failures. They took time to learn. They didn’t fall the minute they came across the first wall."
What would he suggest to encourage more such hawkers then?
“It’s the same story as in the past. People went into the hawker business back in the day because they were desperate. Today, I think there’s more reason for you to be desperate again. A lot of jobs are going to the machines, the computers and Artificial Intelligence (AI). Maybe food is something AI cannot fully take over because people are spoilt with the pleasure of artisanal food.”
But even though consumers enjoy hawker food, in some quarters, being a hawker is still seen as a profession that lacks status.
“If we enjoy food, we can’t see it that way. It’s a very noble profession today. If you can think about it: ‘Wow, hey, maybe I like to dredge up this food that I believe in and love and I know that I’ve got a story to tell about this food and I want to sell and tell. And I want to go out and do it because it makes me happy and because I know I can generate some money from this'."
“LET THIS FOOD CULTURE DIE”
I’m sceptical about whether enough people will realise this on their own, but he reiterates the Government should “stay out of this”.
"Just give people very good, reasonable rents and tell them where to get their supplies. Let them figure out on their own how to be good, how to be better."
Often, the issue of rent is raised as a hurdle to hawkers’ success. However, the NEA has taken a few measures to stabilise rents. This includes disallowing subletting and not setting a reserve rent when tendering out vacant stalls.
Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/new...-singapore-hawker-food-on-the-record-10299626
