Hawker culture is a vital part of Singapore’s heritage but the lack of youths willing to become hawkers puts its sustainability at risk.
Lydia, Caitlin, Marvin and Zenden explored various hawker centers around Singapore to delve into the alarming future of Singapore’s hawker culture and what role youths play in it.
Photo taken by Zenden Tan of a Chinese stall beside a Malay stall at Chong Boon Food Center on Aug 12, 2021. Dining in was just allowed for groups of two in hawker centers, thus welcoming the lunch crowd once again.
According to the National Heritage Board, hawker culture is Singapore’s living heritage, it is at the heart of everyday life in Singapore. Fostering interactions between people of all backgrounds through food, helping to unite a racially diverse country.
One only needs to visit Chong Boon Food Centre at Ang Mo Kio and you can see stalls from a variety of cultures beside one another. The Muslim Food stall, selling lontong and mee siam, beside the Chinese Food stall, selling economic bee hoon (noodles).
This is one of the reasons why Singapore’s hawker culture is so unique. Hawker centres serve as a common ground, a place of gathering for all people. A symbol of our country’s multiculturalism.
These open-air food havens have become more than just a place for eating, they have become intertwined with the fond memories of many Singaporeans.
“I used to eat Hokkien Mee with my friends at Chong Boon Food Centre, we would sit there and talk [all day].” said Kelvin Tan Cheng Hai, 51, Regional Sales Manager. This isn’t limited to the older generations either. “Hawker centres is where my love for chicken rice came from.” said Leroi June Yen Hao,17, student.
Under the roof of hawker centres lies the past and present of Singapore in a way ever so unique to us. As age catches up to the hawkers, what the future holds is entirely dependent on the custodians of our hawker culture, the youths.
Youths must preserve this unique part of our identity as Singaporeans.
Photo taken by Zenden Tan of Seoul Sedap co-founders, Noriko Ng and Kirstie Kwan, in front of their stall at 138 Tampines Street on Aug 3, 2021. Both co-founders are aged 25 and under, one of the rare youth hawkers.
So why are youths so reluctant?
Most hawkers tend to be older, with the average age of a hawker in Singapore being 59 years old. However, an exception to this would be the hawkers working at Seoul Sedap. Located in the heartlands of Tampines, this stall specialising in Korean food is run by youths, all in their early to mid-20s. Based on a survey conducted with youths between ages 18-24, 50% of the respondents mentioned that their family would not support them should they choose to become a hawker. Additionally, 86 out of 100 respondents reported that they are not willing to become a hawker.
The pandemic has brought a new set of challenges to hawkers. “I believe all businesses are affected. With low sales, it is tough as I need to pay the food supplies, rent and other expenses too” said Mr Mohammad Yazid bin Yahya, 39, a self-employed hawker.
Mr Gwern Khoo, 40, Co-Founder of A Noodle Story, also stated that the pandemic has also brought “unpredictable crowds from the changing rules due to the pandemic”. When The Mint Paper visited Amoy Street Food Centre on Aug 3, 2021, many of the hawker stalls were closed, citing the pandemic as the primary reason. The lack of job security makes working as a hawker more “undesirable” to youths.
Another “undesirable” aspect to working as a hawker is the working conditions, “It’s really tough spending 12 hours a day without air conditioning in the hawker centre where it’s dirty and everything,” said Ms Kwan. Unfavourable working conditions is one of the reasons why not many youths want to become a hawker. “Why would you go work at a hawker when you can go work in an air-conditioned restaurant,” said June.
“I personally feel that the reason why youngsters choose not to become a hawker is due to the working effort in relation to income. As hawker food is priced cheaply, most hawkers spend long hard hours at work and yet the effort put in does not match the income,” said Mr Khoo. With the average earnings at only $2,500 to $3,000 a month, many youths are not willing to put in that effort. Especially in a country like Singapore where we are heavily focused on economic status, convincing youths to take up jobs as a hawker may be a tough task.
Additionally, youths do not have the relevant expertise and experience to become successful in hawking. Hawkers need much more than just culinary skills to survive in the trade. They also need to handle their finances and manage their entire stall independently. “If it’s a family business, I can fall back on my parents or grandparents to teach me,” said Reiko Ng Wan Wen, 17, student. Showing that youths are unwilling to step into the hawker business without sufficient guidance.
Arguably, the biggest reason why most youths are reluctant to join the hawking business is the stigma that surrounds the profession. In the past, most hawkers were uneducated, prompting them to step into the hawking business.
No qualifications are needed, which is why hawking is viewed lowly as a profession.
“The general perception [for hawkers] is uneducated, low wage, long hours,” explained Mr Khoo. It is not surprising that youths are discouraged to approach hawking or even consider it as a possible career path. Hawkers are looked down upon, their work completely shoved aside as a backup plan.
Nowadays, more youths are educated compared to the past. A youth seeking employment as a hawker is commonly perceived as “wasting” away their education. With little to no support from their peers, youths are pressured into seeking other jobs and steering away from hawking.
With most of the new generation unwilling to continue our hawker legacy, how are we going to sustain our hawker culture?
Sustaining Hawker Culture for the future
The only feasible way for us to do this is to introduce more young hawkers into the trade.
The government has carried out various programmes and initiatives in efforts to sustain Hawker Culture and support hawkers. Such efforts include the Hawkers’ Productivity Grant. It is funding support for stallholders to be more productive with the use of automation equipment. There is also the Hawkers’ Development Programme, a mentorship programme from veteran hawkers for young aspiring hawkers. Additional efforts to subsidise rentals have been put in place as well.
However, are these efforts alone enough? When asked, Madam Hatimah Binte Khamis, 69, ex- Hawker, was not aware of the various programmes. After being informed, she found the Hawker’s Development Programme most useful because it ensures that future hawkers are equipped with valuable skills and experience that cannot be cultivated elsewhere to set up a stall.
“The government should promote these initiatives on social media [platforms] like TikTok and Instagram because that’s where the youths are,” said Mr Azhar Bin Talib, 46, assistant-manager, son of Madam Khamis.
Furthermore, Mr Khoo believes that the only way to attract more young hawkers would be to increase their income.
“This can be done either by increasing the revenue that hawkers receive or by decreasing operational expenses. More incentives and subsidized rentals should be put in place to support hawker businesses,” said Mr Khoo.
“At the end of the day, we’re talking about bringing back some food on the table for the family. The bottom line is cost,” said Mr Talib.
Mr Talib added that as long as the cleanliness, overall outlook and comfort of hawker centres are improved while keeping the costs hawkers have to pay low, more youths will be encouraged to become hawkers. Modernization of hawker centres must take place to do so.
Based on the Hawker Centres Transformation Programme, modernization is being carried out. Hawker centres will be modernized in terms of their layout and infrastructure. These hawker centres are developed to ensure a cleaner, safer, eco-friendly and more conducive environment.
“It’s not just about the aesthetics[infrastructure] of hawker centres, but more of stigma. What I feel the government can do more is to show that this career is okay,” said Ms Kwan.
The most important obstacle Singapore must tackle is the stigma against the hawker career. There is more to the career than just being “draining” and “difficult’’. Ms Kwan explained that the outcome of “seeing your customers’ face after receiving their meal” is very fulfilling.
“There should be more prestige and recognition for hawkers,” said Mr Khoo. The media should portray this job as one that is respectable to tackle the stigma against it.
“We could have influencers on social media to provide more recognition about the job. They can spread awareness on how meaningful the job truly is because influencers are role models to people,” explained Goh Qi En, 17, student.
With such efforts in place, the onus now lies on the youths to sustain our hawker culture. The younger members of our society must grow to have a greater interest and appreciation for our hawkers which eventually should lead to more of them taking up a career as a hawker. With the inevitable ageing of our hawkers, hawker culture will die out if our youths do not rise to the challenge.
“Don’t be afraid to try. At the end of the day, even if you fail, there are so many other things that you can do, so just don’t be afraid to try.” says Ms Kwan.
The Hawker Trade: The Struggles Of “Purists”
Back in the day, Madam Hatimah and Mr Talib Bin Selamat would sleep late at night as they prepared the ingredients and food for the next day of business.
“For the satay we sold, we’d have to chop up the food, season the meat, marinate them, put them together on sticks all ourselves”, said Mr Talib, son of Madam Khamis and Mr Selamat.
Madam Khamis and Mr Selamat would then have to wake up in the wee hours of the morning to travel to Tekka Center and prepare the stall before serving customers. Madam Khamis and Mr Selamat owned a hawker stall at Tekka Center that sold traditional Malay food.
“We’re purists. From the food we sold to the presentation of the food to the ingredients used to the way we made our food by hand and the way we ran our stall. The process was very tedious,” said Mr Talib.
“People of my age and youths don’t purchase traditional food because they aren’t as popular as fusion food,” added Mr Talib. “It was a problem.”
Mr Talib saw the change in preference within generations and business slowly declined as years went by. Despite the struggle of keeping up sales, Madam Khamis and Mr Selamat had no intention of passing on the business to their children.
“I never encouraged my children to take on the business. It’s too tiring and takes up too much time. I just told them to study and get another job.” said Madam Khamis.
Mr Talib would try to help with sales and appeal to younger customers with the branding and the designs of the stall, but to no avail. The stall had to close down in 2017 after Mr Selamat fell critically ill as they could no longer run the stall.
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