Lee Khai Loon (PKR-Machang Bubok) said the state government ought to cut out its “meek act” and seriously pursue the matter at the highest levels to ensure Penang was co-listed with Singapore.
He said this to state executive councillor Yeoh Soon Hin (DAP-Paya Terubong), who had said the Penang government would “write a letter” to the National Heritage Department and a minister “for approval”.
“We have to be more aggressive or else Singapore would consider hawker culture as theirs. We have to work harder than just writing letters. We have to be aggressive and vigorous.
“Please, I ask the exco member to follow through on this please. Don’t let Unesco give Singapore what they want and we would be crying ‘should have, would have’, regretting it is no use,” Lee said after interjecting Yeoh’s winding-up debate on the governor’s speech.
In March, Singapore formally nominated its hawker culture to be listed under Unesco’s intangible cultural heritage (ICH).
The republic backed its nomination with letters, photographs and videos, including pictures of hawkers preparing briyani and chicken rice, as well as a family enjoying cendol.
If the nomination is successful, the food items will join Japanese cuisine and Belgian beer, which are listed as cultural heritage by Unesco.
In response, Yeoh said Singaporeans were calling Malaysian hawker food as theirs. He said during his travel to an unnamed country recently, shops were selling “Singapore Bah Kut Teh” and more.
“Bah kut teh is not exclusive to Singapore and does not originate from there. And they also claim they created yee sang and more. Every other food I saw had a Singapore prefix.
“Ultimately, Penang food always tastes better and I agree with the gentleman from Machang Bubok. We will keep close tabs on this,” he said to a rapid thumping of tables in support by members of the assembly.
Recently, Deputy Tourism and Culture Minister Bakhtiar Wan Chik told FMT that Malaysia was planning to apply for a “serial nomination” on the hawker culture under Unesco’s ICH.
He said Malaysia had successfully made serial nominations to Unesco before, with a joint nomination with China to list the Wangkang ceremony in the past.
This ceremony is observed by the Hokkien community in Melaka. Wangkang, which has its roots in China, is a festival to dispel evil spirits.
“Unesco will never stop a country from nominating any culture deemed unique. We have chingay, dikir barat, boria and other cultural performances that are unique to Malaysia,” he had said.
Last December, the South China Morning Post said at least 25% of Singaporeans regarded their food to be more significant than traditional performance arts or festivals, with eight out of 10 eating at a hawker centre at least once a week.