Ong Ye Kung Rebuts Complaints About Treatment of Stallholders

Stallholders at Bukit Canberra Hawker Centre are not charged for storing supplies in baskets or penalised for not providing free meals, said Health Minister Ong Ye Kung.

- Ang Qing

Mr Ong, who oversees the ward where the food centre is located, was responding in an Aug 11 Facebook post to concerns raised by food critic K.F. Seetoh about the treatment of hawkers there.

In a Facebook post on Aug 4, Mr Seetoh had claimed that the food centre's hawkers were forced to pay $70 each month to use blue supply baskets at the back of each stall.

The founder of local food guide Makansutra, in another post on Aug 8, said the stallholders were contractually obliged to offer 60 free meals at their own expense.

"What a ridiculous smash and grab management policy," he said in the post, which included a screenshot of what appears to be a contract with the hawker centre's management.