Health Minister Ong Ye Kung has rebutted local food critic KF Seetoh’s concerns regarding the alleged treatment of hawkers at Bukit Canberra Hawker Centre.
Ong, who oversees the ward where the food centre is located, took to Facebook on Monday (Aug 11) to refute the veteran critic’s claims that stallholders are being charged for storing supplies in baskets and would be penalised for not providing free meals.
The issue was first raised by Seetoh in a Facebook post on Aug 4, in which the 63-year-old said that the hawkers at the food centre had to pay $70 a month to use blue baskets at the back of each stall for supplies.
He described this as “atrocious” before mentioning that “more egregious” activity occurs at this hawker centre.
In a separate Facebook post on Aug 8, Seetoh said that hawkers were contractually obligated to provide 60 free meals a month.
Alongside the post is a screenshot of what appears to be a contract stating the breakdown of the aforementioned requirement for the hawkers.
Seetoh called this a “ridiculous smash and grab management policy”, before noting that hawkers were also “contractually forced to offer” budget meals of up to $3.50.
Ong responded on Aug 11, clarifying Seetoh’s Aug 4 claims regarding the allaged charges for basket storage space.
“This is not true, as there is no such practice of charging for the use of the blue baskets at the back of their stalls,” he stated.
Regarding hawkers having to provide 60 free meals a month, Ong noted that this allegation “does not present the full picture”.
He explained that stallholders had originally agreed to provide 30 meals a month for low-income residents, which had been adjusted to 100 meals over the three-year duration of their lease.
“There are no penalties if they do not or are unable to provide the meals,” Ong said.
“This simple, well-intentioned initiative was meant to encourage our hawkers to ‘Pay-It-Forward’. In any case, the initiative has yet to commence.”
In his post, Ong noted that he appreciates KF Seetoh’s concerns for hawkers and shares his passions for keeping Singapore’s hawker culture alive.
He added: “However, let’s do so without putting down anyone, whether they are patrons, hawkers, the hawker centre operator, or government agencies.”
Later that day, Seetoh took to Facebook to thank the minister for his response and suggested that they meet so that he could get “a fuller picture”.
Reiterating his concerns regarding the matter of providing free meals, the food critic also said: “Charity should be a personal deed between a person and his godly duties to heaven.”
“It should not be in a contract even if hawkers agree to it.”
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amierul@asiaone.com
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