SINGAPORE: The Workers’ Party Youth Wing president Ms Nicole Seah, who has been active on the ground at East Coast GRC for the past few years, wrote that “it always feels like home in Fengshan hawker centre” in a Facebook post on Saturday (Feb 18).
Ms Seah, who usually visits the area with fellow WP leader Kenneth Foo and a team of volunteers, wrote that she has visited the hawker centre at Block 85, Bedok North Street 4, three times in the past two weeks.
They had recently visited in the evening after finishing their weekday house visits and food distribution but were back for a market visit on Feb 18.
“A volunteer remarked that it almost feels like a Kampong because the residents and stallholders we meet are always warm and welcoming, and ready to engage in a deep conversation about their lives and the issues that matter to them,” Ms Seah added.
She also wrote that an interesting conversation arose because a lecturer who had dropped by for breakfast at the hawker centre talked about ways to continue generating interest among young people to choose hawker centres as a place to gather socially and appreciate the hawker trade.
“It is hard work being a hawker, with many of the stalls opening at 4-5am just to prep and make sure they are ready for the day. We are also appreciative for the wealth of affordable culinary options available to us, even as hawkers grapple with the rising costs of raw materials.”
Last week, a thread went viral on Reddit, when a netizen wrote that “higher prices are a necessity for hawkers” after a customer insulted his aunt, a Cai Png stall assistant when prices had increased by 50 cents.
Although he knows it’s an unpopular opinion that could get “downvoted to hell,” u/apeksiao wrote in a post on Feb 13 that “the profit margin for running a food stall is already incredibly low as it is. My aunt once was able to earn $2.5k, now even trying to earn $1.5k is difficult.
When the price of rental has shot through the roof in recent years, and when the price of every single expense also has increased (ingredients, utilities, general cost of living), these food stalls have no choice but to increase their prices to compensate.” /TISG
Kenneth Foo & Nicole Seah lead WP Team at East Coast reaching out to seniors and families in need