If you've been following the ongoing discussion about hawker culture, you might have heard about the formation of a nomination committee to aid Singapore's UNESCO bid for the preservation of hawker culture.

The group of 14 Singaporeans, announced on Monday, Oct. 22, was formed to "oversee and lend guidance" to Singapore's effort to get our hawker culture on the "Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity".

Singaporeans sceptical

Unfortunately, the committee's formation was met with a good deal of scepticism from Singaporeans.

This is the list of who's who on the committee.

The co-chairs:

1. Chang Hwee Nee — Chief Executive Officer, National Heritage Board

2. Tan Meng Dui — Chief Executive Officer, National Environment Agency

3. Yeo Hiang Meng — President, Federation of Merchants’ Associations, Singapore

And the members:

4. Puvan Ariaratnam — Director (Character & Citizenship Education), Ministry of Education

5. Chua Mui Hoong — Editor (Opinion), The Straits Times

6. Lily Kong — Provost, Lee Kong Chian Chair Professor of Social Sciences, Singapore Management University

7. Jack Lee — President, Singapore Heritage Society

8. Lim Gek Meng — Vice-President, Federation of Merchants’ Associations, Singapore

9. Anne Loh — President, Slow Food Singapore

10. Jesher Loi — Director, Branding & Marketing Development, Ya Kun International Pte Ltd

11. Suriani Suratman — Senior Lecturer (Department of Malay Studies), National University of Singapore

12. Denise Tan — Director (School of Hospitality), ITE College West

13. Andrew Toh — Ambassador (Non-Resident) and Permanent Delegate to the UNESCO

14. Clarin Wee — Director (Grassroots Policy & Programmes Division), People’s Association

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Two names in bold on that list are worth noticing. We'll come back to that in a bit.

Singaporeans who saw the list, though, were quick to deduce and conclude that there was a conspicuous absence of hawkers, who are a key stakeholder in this entire discussion.

So are there really no hawkers in the committee?

In response to media queries, the National Environment Agency, the National Heritage Board and the Federation of Merchants' Association, Singapore, shared some useful information in a joint response on Tuesday night, Oct. 23:

1) About Lim Gek Meng, second-generation hawker

So this guy, number 8 on the list above, has been a hawker for some 33 years.

Lim Gek Meng is 67, and identifies as semi-retired.

He took over his father's business, Ming Fa Fishball, at Chinatown Complex Food Centre back in 1975, and handed the reins to his son six years ago. His journey as a hawker was partly told in this video too.

He is listed as Vice-President of the Singapore Federation of Merchants' Associations (FMAS), which does sound rather generic, we'd agree.

But after we enquired with the National Environment Agency, we learned he also happens to be Chairman of the Chinatown Complex Hawkers’ Association (which looks into issues at the hawker centre), and additionally heads the FMAS’s Hawker Upgrading Sub-Committee, which champions the interest of hawkers and looks for ways to increase productivity and sustainability in the hawker trade.

2) Yeo Hiang Meng, good friends with many hawkers

And this stern-looking uncle is Yeo Hiang Meng, Lim's "superior" at the FMAS — he is its sitting President.

Again, what credibility does he have, right? We asked. NEA, NHB and FMAS told us he runs a business in the heartlands and so knows plenty about heartland business, how it's run and the challenges faced.

We're told Yeo engages regularly with hawkers and their parent hawkers' associations, and so has built up wide rapport with hawkers in particular.

FMAS, which he heads with Lim, represents the Singapore hawker community, and is a key driver of the UNESCO effort.

Merchants' Association spearheading efforts to speak to hawkers

So we'd just like to touch on one more thing — the fact that according to the committee's statement, the FMAS is leading the charge in engaging the most important partner in Singapore's UNESCO bid: the hawker community.

NEA, HHB and FMAS told Mothership that FMAS has been working closely with the other two parties to reach out to hawkers to gather feedback and hold group discussions on this.

"FMAS is an important partner in driving the nomination effort. Since the announcement of Singapore’s nomination of Hawker Culture for the UNESCO Representative List, FMAS has been working closely with NEA and NHB to reach out to the hawkers. A briefing session on the nomination has been conducted with some of the Hawkers’ Associations. Moving forward, the three organisations will be holding more engagement sessions with Hawkers’ Associations and hawkers to gather feedback, as well as conduct in-depth focus group discussions, involving various stakeholders such as heritage experts and food advocates."

Here's hoping Lim and Yeo can speak up strongly on behalf of the hawkers who feel aggrieved and concerned about the recent changes happening in the hawker landscape and industry here, and that these issues can be sorted out so Singaporeans can throw their full weight behind our UNESCO bid.

Recent stories on our hawkers:

Top photos: screenshots via PA video