KF Seetoh hopes PM Wong can protect, preserve, & imagine new possibilities for hawker culture, not just build fancier centres

SINGAPORE: KF Seetoh commented on a recent video of Lawrence Wong, where he sat down and talked with a family of hawkers, saying he hopes the Prime Minister can use his influence to help the hawker culture, which is struggling amid several challenges.

“Or these hawker videos are mere political optics,” the food guru wrote in a Facebook post on Tuesday (May 19).

PM Wong posted a video with Roger Wong, the owner of Lai Xing Prawn Noodle at Marsiling Lane Market & Food Centre, which his mother started in 1975. While short clips of the conversation are posted on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, the full video is on the Prime Minister’s YouTube account.

The Prime Minister talked with the hawker and his wife and daughter about “the hard work behind every bowl, and what it takes to keep his stall going.”

As he wrote in the YouTube caption, “Our hawkers are at the heart of Singapore’s identity. If we value this heritage, we must continue to support them, so that our hawker culture stays strong for generations to come.”

What Mr Seetoh said

Posting a screenshot of PM Wong with Roger and his daughter, Carin, the Makansutra founder commented, “Wow, the most powerful food influencer has surfaced.”

He added that the Prime Minister “can actually enact change to ‘preserve’ the food culture as mentioned in the video,” but wondered aloud if PM Wong is fully aware of the “impossible situation our hawkers face in their quest to survive,” much less preserve the culture amid facing “ridiculous social enterprise or socially conscious… hawker centre management contractual rules” from the National Environment Agency (NEA), which manages the manages the 123 markets and hawker centres in Singapore.

Added to this are pressures from the public to serve inexpensive dishes, which Mr Seetoh called “very demoralising.”

He noted that a motion on preserving hawker culture had been unanimously passed in Parliament in November 2024, which covered manpower, the rent bidding system, and other matters, but opined that not much has been done to aid hawkers since then.

Mr Seetoh also wrote that he had looked at some of the new contracts for Socially-conscious Enterprise Hawker Centres (SEHC) and reportedly found that they stipulated a 7-day workweek, high gas prices, as well as charges for the mandatory use of their POS system.

“All this in the midst of energy and cost crisis,” he wrote, pointing out yet again that hawkers are not subsidised.

Returning to PM Wong’s video, Mr Seetoj added, “I hope this top-flight influencer can truly act to protect, preserve, and imagine new possibilities to our fast-fading heritage hawker culture, not just build fancier hawker centres. Or these hawker videos are mere political optics.” /TISG

Read also: Survival comes first’: KF Seetoh applauds Singapore hawkers who are increasing prices