ILLEGAL HAWKING (Prosecutions)

Dr Aline K. Wong asked the Minister for the Environment (a) how many cases were prosecuted in each of the past five years for illegal hawking; and (b) what was the average fine imposed.

Mr Eugene Yap Giau Cheng (for the Minister for the Environment): Mr Speaker, Sir, between 1982 and 1986, the number of prosecution cases for illegal hawking and the average fine imposed for each year was: No. of Average fine Year cases imposed ------ -------- --------------- 1982 4,915 $93.02 1983 6,642 $82.23 1984 6,441 $123.50 1985 8,032 $135.39 1986 8,670 $134.26

Mr Tan Soo Khoon (Alexandra): Sir, in view of the fact that his Ministry has not eradicated the problem, would his Ministry consider taking some other form of action, such as being more liberal in the granting of licences for legal hawking?

Mr Eugene Yap Giau Cheng: Grant of licences for illegal hawking?

Mr Tan Soo Khoon: For hawking.

Mr Eugene Yap Giau Cheng: For hawking. Mr Speaker, Sir, our Ministry has always been very helpful with illegal hawkers. In other words, when they are apprehended we offer them application forms to apply for hawker stalls. But more often than not, they just refuse to accept the stalls when stalls are allocated to them. Again, off the top of my head, I remember that last year out of over 1,700 illegal hawkers caught, only two eventually accepted the stalls.

Dr Aline K. Wong (Changkat): Sir, would the Senior Parliamentary Secretary explain why there was this big increase in number of prosecutions of illegal hawkers in the last two years which were years of recession?

Mr Eugene Yap Giau Cheng: That is the answer!

Mr Tan Soo Khoon: Mr Speaker, Sir, if his Ministry has been very helpful to illegal hawkers, how come only two accepted his offer last year? And how come the number of cases is on the increase?

Mr Eugene Yap Giau Cheng: Because they are businessmen. And like all businessmen, like the Member for Alexandra, they all want to earn as much as they possibly can. So when you give them stalls which are in unpopular areas, they do not want the stalls. They prefer to station themselves in Orchard Road perhaps, where the human traffic is very very heavy and thereby earn more profit. They do not have to pay rentals, no charges, nothing.

Mr Tan Soo Khoon: Does he not think that the solution would be to provide more facilities in popular areas rather than to send people to areas where there is no business at all.

Mr Eugene Yap Giau Cheng: Could the Member repeat his question again?

Mr Tan Soo Khoon: Does he not think that the solution would be to provide more facilities in popular areas?

Mr Eugene Yap Giau Cheng: Let us go back to the days why we built hawker centres. We built hawker centres because in the early days there were umpteen, in fact countless, hawkers around town and the idea of building hawker centres was to resite them in proper places so that they would be able to organize themselves, organize their business, sell under more controlled conditions meaning, if they were food handlers they would be under some kind of supervision from my Ministry to make sure that they did not unnecessarily transmit diseases and so on. But today, it is different. Today the illegal hawker feels that he wants to have a hawker stall of his own choice, wherever it is. Then I think it is best that he goes to those shops situated in shopping complexes, in offices, and so on, and make a bid for it because in such places more market forces are operating there, rather than for Government to build more hawker stalls in popular areas and subsidizing them.

Mr Chew Heng Ching (Kaki Bukit): Sir, would the Senior Parliamentary Secretary be able to tell us the age profile and the financial background of these illegal hawkers, and what proportion of these illegal hawkers are actually repeat offenders?

Mr Eugene Yap Giau Cheng: I have some figures here. Most of them are young and able-bodied. We did a survey of 2,767 illegal hawkers in 1986 - 82% were below 51 years of age; 61% below 41 years of age. What was the other question?

Mr Chew Heng Ching: What proportion of these illegal hawkers are repeat offenders?

Mr Eugene Yap Giau Cheng: I do not have the figures with me, so I cannot let the Member know what the percentage of these illegal hawkers are repeated cases. If he wants, I can produce the figures later.

Mr Chiam See Tong: May I be allowed to ask supplementary questions?

Mr Speaker: You may ask supplementary questions here.

Mr Chiam See Tong: (1) How many illegal hawkers are there in Singapore today? (2) When the goods, especially foodstuffs are vegetables, are seized from these illegal hawkers, what does the Government do with them? I hope the Senior Parliamentary Secretary is taking them down. (3) How many complaints are there against enforcement officers for their rough treatment of illegal hawkers? And (4) what is the average earnings of an illegal hawker per month?

Mr Eugene Yap Giau Cheng: Mr Speaker, Sir, there are quite a lot of assumptions made in those questions, for a start. By the very nature of their job, illegal hawkers, try to run away from authority. They disappear when the officer comes. Therefore, it is not possible to count them. So if you ask me how many illegal hawkers are there in Singapore, my answer is that I do not know.

Mr Chiam See Tong: Estimate.

Mr Eugene Yap Giau Cheng: It is a lot. That is the best estimate. Otherwise we would not have 15 enforcement teams in Singapore, each team consisting of four men, going round Singapore looking for illegal hawkers. The other question is regarding vegetables from Malaysia, is it correct?

Mr Chiam See Tong: No.

Mr Eugene Yap Giau Cheng: Can you please ask your question again?

Mr Chiam See Tong: What does the Government do with all the goods, especially foodstuffs and vegetables seized from these illegal hawkers?

Mr Eugene Yap Giau Cheng: Illegal hawkers do not sell too much vegetables, because if they have to run away they can either leave them there or carry it along with them. Let me tell you how they operate. Their modus operandi is very interesting. They operate in such a way that when you get to them they can run away and leave behind very small quantities of goods that they are selling. Their remaining goods are tucked away somewhere in small places where it is very difficult to spot. They may be put away under the staircase of an HDB block, or they may be kept in a van somewhere. But they are certainly not put on sale in huge lots. And secondly, if they want to sell vegetables, it is too difficult because they have to go to the auction market right early in the morning to bid and so on. They do not do that kind of a thing. They sell things like otah-otah, ngoh hiang, and so on, which are easier to sell. So if the Member asks me what is the percentage, how much vegetables are seized out of the total goods ---

An hon. Member: What do they do with the vegetables?

Mr Eugene Yap Giau Cheng: What do you do with them? When these things are seized, there are two ways we can dispose of them. If they are fruits and vegetables, then they are straightaway sent to the charity homes for the residents to eat. But if they are non-perishable items like trinkets, watches, they are taken to and kept in a warehouse - I think there is a store somewhere in Pasir Panjang - and then after conviction, we destroy the goods or they are auctioned.