SINGAPORE: Singapore's hawker system cannot cater to the interest of private chain owners with multiple stalls, to maintain fairness and make sure there are opportunities for others to enter the trade, Senior Minister of State for Sustainability and the Environment Koh Poh Koon said on Monday (Mar 10).
He was responding to questions in parliament on the requirement for stallholders to personally operate hawker stalls. This comes on the back of a complaint which made the rounds in February after a man said in a Facebook post that he was "forced" to make his pregnant wife stand in their store at Yishun Park Hawker Centre.
The hawker, Mr Noorman Mubarak, and his wife have been managing their Nasi Lemak Ayam Taliwang stall since 2017.
Mr Noorman wrote in his post on Feb 18 that the National Environment Agency (NEA) had given his wife a warning for violating the tenancy agreement by not being at the stall physically. NEA requires stallholders to personally operate their stalls to prevent subletting.
Office workers dine at the Lau Pa Sat hawker centre during lunch hour on Jan 6, 2025. (Photo: CNA/Wallace Woon)
Commenting on the case, Dr Koh said it was a "very one-sided story" as NEA had offered Mrs Noorman to nominate another person to take over the store during her pregnancy.
The stall is registered under Mrs Noorman and the couple has been manning it personally before adopting technology and software to allow their staff to handle the physical work while they looked after administrative matters.
"But instead of actually accepting that as a legitimate option to do so, they decide to put on social media to try and say that we have been unhelpful," Dr Koh said.
He said that Mr Noorman runs two to three stalls in NEA hawker centres and up to 21 registered stalls in other food and beverage (F&B) establishments.
"We're quite happy that hawkers like him have succeeded, but it is understandable that as a business owner, he wants to focus on his other business and try not to focus as much attention on the hawker stalls."
The senior minister of state added: "If a member's business has grown to a size where they are actually unable to split the time properly, and they have to focus their time more on the businesses outside the hawker centres, then I think it's time for them to really take a hard look and see whether where their main revenue source is coming from."
These hawkers may have to give up their store which NEA has given to them for a lower rent to someone else who may need the space more, Dr Koh said.
15:38 Min
There is a need for hawkers to man their stalls personally, with some flexibility given, to prevent subletting and to protect the authenticity of Singapore’s hawker culture, said Senior Minister of State for Sustainability and the Environment Koh Poh Koon. Replying to MPs’ questions in parliament on Monday (Mar 10), Dr Koh suggested that hawkers who have expanded into outlets beyond the hawker centre and are spending much time running the business operations instead of cooking at their stall, reconsider if they should continue with their hawker business. He said the National Environment Agency’s goal is to give opportunities to others to enter the hawker trade rather than support chain businesses as hawker centres are not just commercial spaces, but also community dining spaces with a social role.
Hawker centres are not just commercial spaces, but also community dining spaces with a social role. NEA has invested in hawker centres to provide affordable cooked food for Singaporeans, while enabling small food businesses to earn a reasonable living, said Dr Koh.
"We have deliberately kept the barrier to entry low to allow many hawkers, including like Mr Mubarak himself, to build a successful business and expand to other food and beverage establishments.
"So we have to maintain fairness, because this is the important role that our hawker centres play. We're happy to see our hawkers succeed, but we must also prevent individuals from gaming the system by profiteering from subletting."
If NEA did not enforce this rule and stores are run fully by hired workers, hawker centres will become "indistinguishable" from coffee shops and food courts "eroding the authenticity", said Dr Koh.
"Over time, our hawker culture will be diluted, shifting from passionate hawkers serving their own dishes to our customers to businesses just prioritising efficiency and scale over heritage and quality."
While NEA supports the use of technology to improve efficiency at stalls, it should not be at the expense of hawkers stepping away from running the store themselves and leaving its manning to workers.
"If hawker(s) wish to extend to a chain model and become bigger, they have the option to move out of the hawker centres and do it at other F&B establishments where we do not impose restrictions," Dr Koh said.
The balance between protecting the hawker heritage, and keeping food affordable and ensuring fair opportunities for new hawkers would be "quite difficult" to maintain if there are no rules to manage this.
It would have been "far easier" for NEA to let the hawker centres operate just as any other commercial outfits without any restrictions on subletting or any business models that the operator wants to do.
"But that will mean losing what makes them really special today. So if Singaporeans are prepared to accept hawker food at price points, quality and the business model, just like any other coffee shop or food courts, then we could remove these restrictions and let the free market take this cost," said Dr Koh.
Mr Edward Chia (PAP-Holland-Bukit Timah) asked in a supplementary question if the current requirements for hawkers to personally manage their stall has been effective in preventing unintended subletting, and if this has unintentionally also discouraged genuine hawkers.
In his reply, Dr Koh said that physical presence was the "most practical and fair way" of ensuring that the store is not sublet. This way, NEA would be able to directly monitor whether stallholders physically operate their stores during operating hours or are subletting on the ground.
"The truth is to catch subletting is not so easy because it is a private arrangement that can take place between the person who has bidded for the place but has not intention to run it and actually under the table could have been … subletting the store to someone else and profiting from rent," Dr Koh said.
The rent for hawker stalls can sometimes be below the market rate, even as low as S$1.
"What we don't want is for a subletter to then profit from the huge margin by actually extracting rent from a person who's actually interested to run the store and pass the cost subsequently to consumers," said Dr Koh.
"And if there is a way for us to catch it better, we would want. So if there are suspicions of subletting, NEA will follow (up) on feedback where possible."
He added that NEA will also exercise flexibility to allow stallholders who need to step away from their stores for a short period of time to run errands to do so without penalty.
Associate Professor Jamus lim (WP-Sengkang) then shared that he had a resident who had sought that flexibility by asking for a window during which he had to physically be present at the store for the inspections.
He asked if providing such a window is not considered part of the flexibility.
To this, Dr Koh said that there are place managers at every hawker centre to manage the operations who hawkers can communicate with if they need flexibility on the ground.
"But if it's time and again, when the things are flouted and is too much of a repeat ask, then I think it calls into question whether there is genuine need, or whether there are some actions to try and circumvent our rules," he said, adding that NEA will have to take things on a case-by-case basis.
"In the end, it really is about what we want to (do) to see our hawker culture thrive."
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He was responding to questions in parliament on the requirement for stallholders to personally operate hawker stalls. This comes on the back of a complaint which made the rounds in February after a man said in a Facebook post that he was "forced" to make his pregnant wife stand in their store at Yishun Park Hawker Centre.
The hawker, Mr Noorman Mubarak, and his wife have been managing their Nasi Lemak Ayam Taliwang stall since 2017.
Mr Noorman wrote in his post on Feb 18 that the National Environment Agency (NEA) had given his wife a warning for violating the tenancy agreement by not being at the stall physically. NEA requires stallholders to personally operate their stalls to prevent subletting.
Office workers dine at the Lau Pa Sat hawker centre during lunch hour on Jan 6, 2025. (Photo: CNA/Wallace Woon)
Commenting on the case, Dr Koh said it was a "very one-sided story" as NEA had offered Mrs Noorman to nominate another person to take over the store during her pregnancy.
The stall is registered under Mrs Noorman and the couple has been manning it personally before adopting technology and software to allow their staff to handle the physical work while they looked after administrative matters.
"But instead of actually accepting that as a legitimate option to do so, they decide to put on social media to try and say that we have been unhelpful," Dr Koh said.
He said that Mr Noorman runs two to three stalls in NEA hawker centres and up to 21 registered stalls in other food and beverage (F&B) establishments.
"We're quite happy that hawkers like him have succeeded, but it is understandable that as a business owner, he wants to focus on his other business and try not to focus as much attention on the hawker stalls."
The senior minister of state added: "If a member's business has grown to a size where they are actually unable to split the time properly, and they have to focus their time more on the businesses outside the hawker centres, then I think it's time for them to really take a hard look and see whether where their main revenue source is coming from."
These hawkers may have to give up their store which NEA has given to them for a lower rent to someone else who may need the space more, Dr Koh said.
15:38 Min
There is a need for hawkers to man their stalls personally, with some flexibility given, to prevent subletting and to protect the authenticity of Singapore’s hawker culture, said Senior Minister of State for Sustainability and the Environment Koh Poh Koon. Replying to MPs’ questions in parliament on Monday (Mar 10), Dr Koh suggested that hawkers who have expanded into outlets beyond the hawker centre and are spending much time running the business operations instead of cooking at their stall, reconsider if they should continue with their hawker business. He said the National Environment Agency’s goal is to give opportunities to others to enter the hawker trade rather than support chain businesses as hawker centres are not just commercial spaces, but also community dining spaces with a social role.
Hawker centres are not just commercial spaces, but also community dining spaces with a social role. NEA has invested in hawker centres to provide affordable cooked food for Singaporeans, while enabling small food businesses to earn a reasonable living, said Dr Koh.
"We have deliberately kept the barrier to entry low to allow many hawkers, including like Mr Mubarak himself, to build a successful business and expand to other food and beverage establishments.
"So we have to maintain fairness, because this is the important role that our hawker centres play. We're happy to see our hawkers succeed, but we must also prevent individuals from gaming the system by profiteering from subletting."
If NEA did not enforce this rule and stores are run fully by hired workers, hawker centres will become "indistinguishable" from coffee shops and food courts "eroding the authenticity", said Dr Koh.
"Over time, our hawker culture will be diluted, shifting from passionate hawkers serving their own dishes to our customers to businesses just prioritising efficiency and scale over heritage and quality."
While NEA supports the use of technology to improve efficiency at stalls, it should not be at the expense of hawkers stepping away from running the store themselves and leaving its manning to workers.
"If hawker(s) wish to extend to a chain model and become bigger, they have the option to move out of the hawker centres and do it at other F&B establishments where we do not impose restrictions," Dr Koh said.
The balance between protecting the hawker heritage, and keeping food affordable and ensuring fair opportunities for new hawkers would be "quite difficult" to maintain if there are no rules to manage this.
It would have been "far easier" for NEA to let the hawker centres operate just as any other commercial outfits without any restrictions on subletting or any business models that the operator wants to do.
"But that will mean losing what makes them really special today. So if Singaporeans are prepared to accept hawker food at price points, quality and the business model, just like any other coffee shop or food courts, then we could remove these restrictions and let the free market take this cost," said Dr Koh.
Related:
NOT EASY TO CATCH SUBLETTING
Mr Edward Chia (PAP-Holland-Bukit Timah) asked in a supplementary question if the current requirements for hawkers to personally manage their stall has been effective in preventing unintended subletting, and if this has unintentionally also discouraged genuine hawkers.
In his reply, Dr Koh said that physical presence was the "most practical and fair way" of ensuring that the store is not sublet. This way, NEA would be able to directly monitor whether stallholders physically operate their stores during operating hours or are subletting on the ground.
"The truth is to catch subletting is not so easy because it is a private arrangement that can take place between the person who has bidded for the place but has not intention to run it and actually under the table could have been … subletting the store to someone else and profiting from rent," Dr Koh said.
The rent for hawker stalls can sometimes be below the market rate, even as low as S$1.
"What we don't want is for a subletter to then profit from the huge margin by actually extracting rent from a person who's actually interested to run the store and pass the cost subsequently to consumers," said Dr Koh.
"And if there is a way for us to catch it better, we would want. So if there are suspicions of subletting, NEA will follow (up) on feedback where possible."
He added that NEA will also exercise flexibility to allow stallholders who need to step away from their stores for a short period of time to run errands to do so without penalty.
Associate Professor Jamus lim (WP-Sengkang) then shared that he had a resident who had sought that flexibility by asking for a window during which he had to physically be present at the store for the inspections.
He asked if providing such a window is not considered part of the flexibility.
To this, Dr Koh said that there are place managers at every hawker centre to manage the operations who hawkers can communicate with if they need flexibility on the ground.
"But if it's time and again, when the things are flouted and is too much of a repeat ask, then I think it calls into question whether there is genuine need, or whether there are some actions to try and circumvent our rules," he said, adding that NEA will have to take things on a case-by-case basis.
"In the end, it really is about what we want to (do) to see our hawker culture thrive."
Related:
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