KUDOS to the Housing Board for coming out to say that the six wet markets Sheng Siong plans to acquire must stay (‘HDB to Sheng Siong: 6 wet markets must stay‘, last Saturday). I hope the other two wet markets slated for closure receive the same verdict.
The signal to big supermarket players is clear: They can expand but the authorities will not forsake the current wet markets that serve residents.
Over the past 60 years, the authorities have improved wet market facilities. They should continue to make them more comfortable for shopping, with better amenities. The HDB should also build more wet markets to balance social needs while preserving our valuable cultural heritage.
Interviews with stallholders and residents on television speak volumes of the special place wet markets have in their hearts, something air-conditioned supermarkets cannot replicate.
Some stallholders and residents are friends. When regular customers buy vegetables from them, some stallholders may provide, free of charge, items like spring onion, garlic or coriander.
I can bargain with my regular pork seller, even though I trust his price. I can pay him on my next visit if I do not have enough cash with me. Based on trust, most stallholders give credit to hard-pressed customers without asking for collateral. I doubt I can ask supermarket cashiers for that.
There is a great difference between shopping in impersonal supermarkets and shopping in friendly wet markets. Missing in the former is the warm personal touch.
Source : Straits Times – 12 Oct 2009
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