Budget 2022 debate: Joan Pereira on compensation scheme to keep hawker culture alive

Have a compensation scheme for hawkers to pass down their recipes and skills. Pay the hawkers an appropriate amount while they are imparting their skills to the apprentices. The compensation sum should reflect the value of their heritage recipes and techniques. In turn, the apprentices could be bonded to the stalls for a period, similar to a Government scholarship. This will help to keep Singapore's hawker trade alive and ensure that its hawker culture stays on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. MP Joan Pereira floated this idea in Parliament on Wednesday (Mar 2), saying Singapore needs to review how it can transform the hawker trade and improve work conditions to attract more younger hawkers. She stressed that Singapore "will definitely not be the same without our hawkers".