Working through illness, not having time for vacations: How some hawkers cope with NEA's rule against absenteeism

For several months now, Mr Tan has been serving plates of fried hokkien mee to customers at a food centre in central Singapore as though he is a seasoned veteran.

However, discerning regulars who patronise the stall might notice a change in taste, because their noodles used to be prepared by a woman.

As it turns out, Mr Tan is not the stallholder. The stall belongs to the woman, who is in her 70s. She was ill and has not been mobile.

Mr Tan said in Mandarin that she does not have the strength to run the stall by herself for the time being. “I’m temporarily helping her, we’ll monitor what her health is like first. 

“If she gets better, then she can probably return to work but just come a bit later in the day.” 

Yet, Mr Tan is aware that by helping out his friend for such a lengthy period of time, it is technically breaching a rule in his friend’s tenancy agreement with the National Environment Agency (NEA) that requires stallholders to personally operate their stalls.

Aimed at preventing stallholders from subletting their stalls to others by mandating the physical presence of the registered owner, the regulation ultimately prevents rents and food prices from hiking and allows enterprising hawkers to enter the industry fairly.

NEA’s long-standing rule became the subject of controversy earlier this year after one owner of a nasi lemak stall took to Facebook to rail against it, after his pregnant wife – the registered owner – was warned for failing to be physically present at her stall in Yishun.

In this case, the stall owner adopted a franchise model, operating at least 26 stalls around Singapore, including in malls and privately run food centres.

Dr Koh Poh Koon, Senior Minister of State for Sustainability and the Environment, said in a Facebook post in March that NEA identified and warned more than 230 stalls last year because they were not personally manned by owners.

Of these, 30 were issued with notices to terminate their tenancies when they did not heed the warnings. 

From these warnings and notices, more than 100 stalls terminated their tenancies, while the rest were able to continue operations because they had given valid reasons for their absence.

With around half of the hawkers who were warned by NEA ultimately let off the hook because they were found to have genuine reasons, CNA TODAY visited eight hawker centres to find out how stallholders – particularly those who do not operate franchise chains – are coping with this rule.

Most agreed that such a rule is effective in deterring subletters and preventing large franchise chains from dominating NEA-run hawker centres, but there were also older stallholders who said that the rule was forcing them out of the trade.

Anecdotally, many ageing stallholders still relied on hired assistants to run the majority of the business, sometimes for the whole day.

Their reasons include circumstances that are beyond their control, such as illness, fatigue, or suddenly having to pick up supplies.

For some, it meant having to explain their absences to NEA officers who carry out regular inspections.

A few hawkers said they would even work through sickness and poor health in order to not put their businesses at risk of closure.

Despite the leeway already granted by the authorities, two experts who spoke to CNA TODAY said that there was a need for greater flexibility.

They raised suggestions such as allowing stall assistants to "hold the fort" temporarily, as well as vacation days for hawkers.

Professor Lily Kong, president of Singapore Management University (SMU) who researches urban infrastructure and also wrote two books on hawker culture in 2007 and 2023, said: “The desire to prevent subletting is understandable. However, the manner in which it is effected requires rethinking.”

In response to queries about how NEA exercises flexibility, the authority directed CNA TODAY to publicly available information on what hawkers can or cannot do. 

Those who wish to expand their businesses can do so by holding up to two cooked food stalls in hawker centres, provided they are able to divide their time and operate the stalls personally.

Hawkers have also made use of other arrangements to grow their businesses, such as taking on more stalls at hawker centres with their family members as stallholders.

To this, NEA has said it “appreciates” the challenges that hawkers face in balancing their personal circumstances with business operations.

If hawkers are temporarily unable to operate their stalls – due to medical reasons, for example – the authority has exercised flexibility in these cases.

The stallholder may appoint a joint operator or a nominee to operate the stall during that period of absence. Both the stallholder and the joint operator are each required to personally operate the stall for at least four hours each business day, and their operation hours cannot overlap.

In the event that the stall has to shut for a period of time, NEA may offer rental waivers to the stallholder.

These rules only apply to tenancy agreements for stallholders in NEA-managed hawker centres.

FALLING SICK, FEELING FATIGUED

Many hawkers who spoke to CNA TODAY said that the NEA rule was an effective deterrent to those thinking of subletting their stalls.

Mr Lew Yew Liang, 55, who owns Shan Zhong Bao Herbal Soup at Berseh Food Centre, said the anti-subletting rule has been in place for many years and he has had no issues abiding by it.

“The rule is fair. Our rent is already very cheap compared to coffee shops. By all means, people can rent at coffee shops,” he said. 

However, to Mr Tan, the fried hokkien mee assistant helping his friend, the requirement to personally man the stall makes the trade unsustainable for older hawkers. 

“Some people will not be able to carry on with the business at all,” he said.

He also said he was ready to explain to the authorities why his friend was unable to tend the stall if approached by officers. 

“NEA has to understand that hawkers are old. Even though their heart is there, they don’t have the strength to stand there for eight hours.”

He did not state if she had considered appointing him as a joint operator, though the rules stipulate that even if she did, she would need to be physically present at the stall for four hours. 

In any case, Mr Tan said she cannot bear to give up her stall completely, because it would mean the loss of her only source of income.

That was why she paid Mr Tan to work as her assistant and take over operations until her condition improved. The stall’s earnings still mainly go to her, but Mr Tan receives a portion of it for his help. 

Others said that they tapped relatives to share the load and to make sure that the business remained sustainable.

A 66-year-old owner of Choon Hwa Coffee Stall in MacPherson, who declined to give her name, said that because she has high blood pressure and gets tired easily, her relatives help out on most mornings and afternoons, while she tends the stall in the evening.

She recounted how an NEA officer once approached her to find out why she was not at the stall.

She replied that it was “tough” for elderly people to man their stalls for hours on end and asked the officer to try a day of her work.

Another hawker said that she did not qualify for rental waivers when she fell sick last year, because her medical certificates did not cover her for a continuous period of one month.

Madam Jeanette Koh, 59, who operates a rojak store at Circuit Road Food Centre, said her absence at the stall also led to enquiries from NEA officers.

“NEA says if you can’t do it, then just return the stall to it. But if we return the stall (to NEA), then who will give us work? We don’t have credentials, who will hire us?”

One hawker who operates a stall at Toa Payoh Lorong 8 Market and Hawker Centre that sells ayam penyet (a fried chicken dish), said he was coughing for eight days, but he continued to work with a mask on in order to comply with NEA’s anti-subletting rule.

This was because he could not allow his assistants to work on his behalf while he was absent, he said. He declined to be named.

TO MAKE ENDS MEET

For similar reasons, it will also be difficult for him to leave Singapore for any Haj pilgrimages in future, because closing his stall when he is away means lost earnings.

This was a sentiment echoed by a few hawkers who feared losing potential earnings because they could not keep their stalls open with help from hired assistants while they rested at home.

For Ms Joanne Lee, 52, the owner of Fu He Turtle Soup at Berseh Food Centre, the requirement prevents her from extending her operating hours beyond 7pm to capture the supper crowd and earn more for her business.

“If I always have to be here all the time, it is difficult to sustain operations in the long run.”

Mr Melvin Chew, who owns the Jin Ji Teochew Braised Duck & Kway Chap stall at Chinatown Complex, said he worries for the future generation of hawkers since young people these days value work-life balance.

“In the past, old hawkers had no life. They simply worked every day and missed the time they had with their children,” the 47-year-old added.

“But nowadays, people feel that they should cherish the moment. So if they have to be at the stall every day from a certain time to a certain time, they have no freedom to spend time with their children or think about starting a family.”

He also said that if Singapore wants hawker culture to remain, then it has to provide younger hawkers with confidence that they can establish a branding for themselves and their businesses. 

Not all agree, though. There were some hawkers, such as Mr Eddy Leck, who told CNA TODAY that it was possible to find that balance despite the long hours as a hawker.

For example, if there are no customers, there is no need for the stallholder to be present to work long hours. The hawker could close the stall and come back later when the crowds are back.

The 49-year-old owner of Soon Heng Coffee Stall at Circuit Road Food Centre said: "I have no difficulties being here all the time. We are making a living, of course we have to be here. We're doing business.”

LIMITED EXPANSION OPPORTUNITIES

At the end of the day, hawker centres are designed to provide opportunities for hawkers to directly operate their own small food businesses, which is why corporates cannot bid directly for hawker stalls.

Some leeway is given for expansion opportunities. NEA’s current rules allow individuals to hold a maximum of two cooked food stalls in hawker centres, provided they are able to divide their time and operate the stalls personally.

In reality, executing this is difficult, some hawkers said.

Ms Li Ruifang, 41, recalled how her father gave up his prawn noodle stall at Whampoa Food Centre to help her find her footing in the food-and-beverage industry when she decided to start her own stall.

The earnings from his stall had put food on the table for her family since the 1970s. Originally, her father Lee Wong Leong, 75, wanted to retain ownership of his original stall and allow his sister to operate it, while he would head to Ms Li’s stall in Tekka Centre to help out full-time.

For a time, this was an ideal arrangement for them. Mr Lee’s earnings from Whampoa allowed him to keep a stable income, his daughter gets to learn directly from an experienced hand, and his sister gets to help out in the family business.

Then, NEA found out about the arrangement in 2014, and because Mr Lee could not divide his time commuting between the two stalls due to his age, he turned over ownership of his Whampoa stall to his sister.

Ms Li said of her father’s sacrifice: “I do feel very grateful for how he gave up his stall to come over to Tekka to help me out. If not for him, I believe it would have taken a longer time for me to get into the rhythm of helming the stall.”

"MORE FLEXIBILITY NEEDED"

Acknowledging the effectiveness of NEA’s rule against subletting, experts on hawker culture said it would be difficult to remove such a regulation without hurting the industry as a whole.

Doing so would also risk “unintended misuse” by hawkers, Mr Ryan Kueh said. He is the author of From Streets to Stalls, a book about the history and evolution of Singapore’s hawker culture.

Without such a rule, it would inadvertently give rise to subletting, allowing people to exploit public subsidies for personal profit by turning stalls into rental assets.

“We first need to consider its underlying principle – preventing the misappropriation of a public good for profiteering,” he said.

On the other hand, there could be “some flexibility for elderly hawkers or those facing genuine difficulties”, he added.

On this point, Prof Kong from SMU had some suggestions for the authorities to consider.

For example, there may be provisions for workers to take vacation leave in ways that do not affect their income.

“It is not unreasonable to have some provision for ‘locums’ to stand in occasionally for hawkers or for helpers to hold the fort for periods of time,” Prof Kong said.

Mr Kueh lauded NEA’s recent policy to allow hawkers to hire assistants holding long-term visit passes, which helps to ease workloads.

Previously, only Singapore citizens and permanent residents could work as stall assistants in hawker centres managed by NEA and its appointed operators. Hawkers could also hire their spouses who have these visit passes.

The policy was relaxed from Jan 1 to allow hawkers to hire any of these pass holders who have been approved to work here.

Beyond policy, Mr Kueh said more must be done to boost the attractiveness of the industry to young entrants. 

“The larger issue is our outdated expectations of hawkers – expecting stalls to be open excessively for long hours or to sell food at very low prices – and the second-order effects they create,” he added.

“These expectations pressure hawkers to offer food at low costs and in turn receive low (profit) margins, endure excessively long working hours and remain trapped in a cycle of working more to sustain sufficient income.”