Hawkers must operate stalls themselves to prevent subletting: Koh Poh Koon

Hawker centre stallholders have to operate their stalls personally as a measure to prevent subletting, as this keeps barriers to entry low for small businesses and preserves the authenticity of the hawker culture, said Senior Minister of State for Sustainability and the Environment Koh Poh Koon in Parliament on March 10.

- Chin Hui Shan

He was responding to questions from Mr Edward Chia (Holland-Bukit Timah GRC) and Workers' Party MP Jamus Lim (Sengkang GRC) on why the National Environment Agency (NEA) requires stallholders to personally operate their hawker stalls, and if the agency exercises flexibility when hawker stallholders are temporarily unable to operate their stalls.

This comes after a hawker complained in a Facebook post on Feb 18 that he was forced to make his heavily pregnant wife stand at their nasi lemak stall at Yishun Park Hawker Centre.

The hawker said his wife had received an NEA warning for violating the tenancy agreement because the woman, who is the registered stallholder, was not present at the stall.

If the requirement is not imposed, the tenant who has successfully bid for the stall could potentially just sublet it and collect the difference in rent, said Dr Koh, adding that this may encourage people to bid for the stall without the true intention of running it.

He said: "Our aim is to encourage more small businesses to enter the hawker trade because of our low barrier to entry, but not allow chain players to start to dominate our hawker scene and change the texture and authenticity of our hawker culture.

"Hawker centres have played an integral role in nation building and hawker culture has been an important part of our Singapore identity. We want our hawker centres to continue providing opportunities for Singaporeans to directly operate their own small food businesses."