Unesco's 24-member committee unanimously accepted Singapore's application
In virtual proceedings that took place on Wednesday night (Dec 16), a 24-member international committee unanimously accepted Singapore's application. The process took all of three minutes, after nearly three years of work by the National Heritage Board, the National Environment Agency and the Federation of Merchants' Associations. As Singapore's application fulfilled all criteria, it was decided that there was no need for debate on it at the 15th session of the intergovernmental committee.
The successful nomination means Singapore now has its first item on the intangible cultural heritage list, which currently has 463 entries including yoga in India and Belgian beer. It is also the country's second entry to any Unesco list. The first came in 2015 when the Singapore Botanic Gardens was designated as a Unesco World Heritage Site.
Singapore hawker culture listed as UNESCO intangible cultural heritage
People eat at a hawker centre in Singapore on Jun 19, 2020, as restrictions to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 novel coronavirus are eased. (Photo: AFP/Roslan Rahman)
It’s official - Singapore hawker culture is now on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list, joining the likes of French cuisine, Thai massage and yoga.
The listing - a first for Singapore - was confirmed at the 15th session Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage held in Paris this week.
The inscription on Wednesday (Dec 16) comes two years after the intention to nominate hawker culture for the UNESCO list was announced at the 2018 National Day Rally. The nomination documents were submitted to UNESCO in March last year.
Singapore’s iconic, but endangered, street food now has UNESCO status
Some civilizations chronicle their pasts with art or books. Others pass on history orally through folklore. In Singapore, the tale of how a humble fishing village in Southeast Asia evolved into a buzzing modern metropolis often comes in spoonfuls of peppery pork rib soup or bites of fried egg noodles at its hawker centers.
Across the city-state, the ubiquitous open-air food complexes are packed with closet-sized stalls, manned by hawkers—businesspeople who both cook and sell fare from Hainanese-style chicken to Peranakan laksa (lemongrass-coconut noodles). For visitors, hawker centers might just seem like jumbo food courts: Follow your nose or the longest line, then pay a few Singapore dollars for a trayful of chow to enjoy at a shared table.
For Singaporeans, hawker culture is about more than just a good meal. These food centers are beloved institutions exemplifying the country’s melting-pot culture, places where people of Chinese, Indian, and Malay descent gather, united in a quest to serve or eat something delicious. Hawkers are so central to Singapore life that the country recently led a successful campaign to have the practice inscribed on the 2020 UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Like the better-known UNESCO World Heritage Site designation, the nod promotes and preserves fragile culture, traditions, skills, and knowledge integral to a particular place.
SINGAPORE'S FIRST INSCRIPTION ON THE UNESCO REPRESENTATIVE LIST OF THE INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE OF HUMANITY
Hawker Culture in Singapore was successfully inscribed as Singapore's first element on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity on 16 Dec 2020. The Intergovernmental Committee unanimously gave their support towards the inscription of Hawker Culture in Singapore. The two-year long journey was a result of the strong collaboration between the National Heritage Board, National Environment Agency, Federation of Merchants’ Associations, Singapore as well as the public, community and experts who gave their support for the bid.
To nominate an element onto the UNESCO Representative List, Singapore, as a State Party, had to submit a nomination dossier detailing the following key criteria as set out by UNESCO:
- How it meets UNESCO’s definition of intangible cultural heritage;
- How the potential inscription of Hawker Culture in Singapore increases visibility, awareness and dialogue of intangible cultural heritage;
- How existing and future safeguarding measures ensure the promotion and continued practice and transmission of the element;
- How the nomination effort has involved the widespread participation of the community; and
- The inclusion of this element in our intangible cultural heritage inventory
Singapore’s nomination journey for Hawker Culture in Singapore was first announced by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the National Day Rally in 2018, and was proceeded by a 6-month long campaign that sought to garner wide community support for Singaporeans in their support for the nomination. The nomination dossier was officially submitted on 26 March 2019.
Singapore hawker culture to be nominated for Unesco listing
Patrons at Pasir Ris Central Hawker Centre, one of about 110 hawker centres here. Hawker culture was selected for nomination as it has shaped the Singaporean identity in many ways, say the organisations fronting the bid. ST FILE FOTO
Every day, more than 6,000 cooked food hawkers produce an assortment of mouth-watering dishes at about 110 hawker centres here.
Now, the island's rich hawker culture will be nominated for inscription into Unesco's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced yesterday.
If the bid is successful, Singapore's hawker culture will join the likes of Malaysia's Mak Yong theatre from Kelantan, Indonesia's batik and India's yoga on the world stage. Started in 2008, the list which has about 400 elements, sets out to demonstrate the diversity of world heritage & ensure its protection.
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