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GEORGE TOWN: Penang admitted today that it has a long way to go in getting UNESCO to recognize its hawker culture in the same way that Singapore did this week.
Yesterday, Singapore’s street vendor culture was listed on UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list, joining the likes of French cuisine, Thai massage, and yoga.
Penang Creative Economy and Tourism Committee chair Yeoh Soon Hin said the state has struggled hard to get a “serial nomination” where both Malaysia and Singapore could be jointly nominated for the honor.
However, he said that Singapore was far ahead in its nomination and that Penang could not do it on its own.
Yeoh said the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture had responded last year saying it was “too premature” to nominate Malaysia’s street vendor culture as more in-depth studies were needed.
“The ministry had said that it would require a lot of research, inventory, conservation and documentation, which would take a long time. We cannot be there in time, so a serial nomination with Singapore was not possible, ”he told reporters in Komtar today.
Yeoh said that in the meantime, Penang would go for the easier fruits, which meant nominating the state’s street vendor culture as a national heritage. He said it was one of the requirements to obtain recognition from UNESCO.
He said a task force led by Machang Bubuk Assemblyman Lee Khai Loon and George Town World Heritage Inc will pursue Penang’s Unesco hawker culture recognition ambition, which could take about five years to complete. .
Yeoh said it would also cost the state at least RM5 million to bring the proposal to UNESCO, through the Department of National Heritage at the federal level.
Singapore first submitted its nomination papers to UNESCO in March 2019, a year after it said it would push for recognition of its mobile food culture.
On Wednesday, the 15th session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage held in Paris announced Singapore’s entry into the heritage list, the CNA reported.
