Penang bans foreign cooks at hawker stalls

PENANG — Officials in Penang have banned foreigners from being employed as cooks at hawker stalls in a move to preserve the state’s food heritage.

Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said the new ruling would be enforced on all roadside hawkers in the state.

Failure to observe the new rule would result in the revocation of their licences, he said. Mr Lim added hawkers would be given a one-year grace period beginning next year.

“The grace period will also give the Penang and Seberang Prai municipal councils time to study and refine the implementation of the new regulation. The main idea is to safeguard Penang’s food heritage and maintain the flavours that are unique to Penang,” he said.

Mr Lim said the regulation, which would also help ensure that the Penang hawker food business would not be taken over by foreigners, would be imposed on all hawkers with stalls by the road and in council or private food courts in shopping malls.

It would be included as a condition in hawker licences next year, but restaurants or food outlets with centralised kitchens would not be subjected to the ruling, he said.

“However, the local councils will still allow stall owners to hire foreigners to help handle orders, clean up or prepare ingredients. It is only cooking that foreign workers are not allowed to do at hawker stalls,” he said.

Mr Lim said the authorities will also issue special stickers to hawkers to display at their stalls to show people that the food is authentically local.

“We hope by taking this measure, we can retain our unique local taste and show visitors the warmth of Penang.”

Mr Lim had earlier this year made the proposal that had received mixed reaction from the public. However, most locals, including hawkers, welcomed the idea. He said during his visits to Singapore that citizens here praised Penang for making such a proposal.

“They told me they felt that Singapore should have done the same a long time ago,” he said. AGENCIES