Our hawker culture has been selected as Singapore’s nomination for the Unesco Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

This was announced by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the National Day Rally on Aug. 19, 2018, after it was deemed a piece of heritage representative of the Singaporean identity throughout a series of public engagement efforts.

This comes after Singapore’s National Heritage Board (NHB) crowdsourcing of various aspects of intangible cultural heritage that Singaporeans deem important for safekeeping, as part of creating an intangible cultural heritage inventory with Singaporeans.

The results, particularly hawker culture, was heavily emphasised by Singaporeans.

Malaysia Reacts

News has since spread to our neighbours, and Malaysians aren't happy.

If you've been living under a rock, Malaysians (and Indonesians) often bemoan Singapore claiming part of their food culture as our own, when they feel most of Singapore's food heritage originated from them.

Singapore's attempt to make it to part of Unesco's list,  this didn't sit well with Malaysians even though the selection hasn't been officially nominated.

Some of them stated how impersonal our hawker centres may seem

And of course, any part of the debate would not be complete without criticism of Singaporean food's unoriginality:

Some nominated Penang as a better choice.

But others also pointed out that it's more about culture rather than food, and what has become unique to Singapore.

We suppose our hurried efforts to get it nominated is a classic sign of a being kiasu.

Top photo via Yishun Park Hawker Centre's Facebook page