THE nomination to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) could only be done at the national level, Penang Tourism and Creative Economy Committee chairman Yeoh Soon Hin said.
He said this when asked by reporters for his comments following the recognition given by Unesco to Singapore’s hawker culture on Wednesday night.
The Singapore hawker culture was added to Unesco’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, nearly two years after Singapore had submitted a bid to be included in the list.
“When the news was out in March last year (2019), stating that Singapore had submitted its nomination to Unesco, my office wrote a letter to the National Heritage Department and the Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry.
“I proposed to National Heritage Department in April last year (2019) to go for a joint nomination between Singapore and Malaysia. This is a better strategy for both countries as the Unesco committee encourages countries to have joint nomination.
“However, the ministry in May last year replied the department was not ready to send the joint nomination.
“The ministry said that there were many requirements that needed to be addressed, such as conducting thorough research, completing the inventory, creating the protection plan and preparing the nomination documents.
“Hence, Malaysia did not manage to go for a joint nomination with Singapore,” Yeoh told a press conference today.
Yeoh said the ministry had said that the National Heritage Department was working on several other nominations at that time, while several others were being reviewed.
Meanwhile, Yeoh said that during the State Legislative Assembly sitting in November last year, a proposal was made to set up a working committee under Machang Bubuk assemblyman Lee Khai Loon to study the nomination of Penang hawker culture to Unesco.
“My office has also instructed George Town World Heritage Incorporated (GTWHI) to prepare the working paper on the subject which was completed early this year. The working paper is now being reviewed by the working committee under Lee,” Yeoh said.
Singapore’s hawker centres were set up to house former street vendors, or “hawkers” in an effort to clean up the island in the 1970s and serve a variety of cheap, no-frills dishes to locals as well as providing a social setting, according to a Reuters report.
“These centres serve as ‘community dining rooms’ where people from diverse backgrounds gather and share the experience of dining over breakfast, lunch and dinner,” UNESCO said.
Celebrity chefs including Anthony Bourdain and Gordon Ramsay have effused over favourite hawker centre dishes such as chicken rice. The 2018 film Crazy Rich Asians showed its stars tucking into heaped plates at a famous night market, and some stalls even gained Michelin stars for meals costing only a few dollars.
Story by K.H. Ong and Christopher Tan
Pix by Noor Siti Nabilah Noorazis