We should continue to refresh our hawker centres and reinvent the experience of eating there if we want this culture to thrive.

We can turn the hawker centre experience into a celebration and cater to a wide spectrum of tastes, sights, sounds, smells and feelings.

For example, we could expand and upgrade our pool of buskers in hawker centres and train them to provide quality entertainment to increase their incomes.

Hawker centres can also be used as a place to showcase our high-tech capabilities by offering technology-driven entertainment, such as drone-operated aerial photography and videography services.

If consumers have a good time, they will be more willing to eat more often at hawker centres, and even purchase mementos for their loved ones.

The hawker centre can also become another place of interest to attract tourists.

As a global city, we can display not only the beauty of our nation but also some of the wonders of the world to our people and foreigners, including by offering some cuisines from different parts of the world.

By improving our hawker centres, we can also attract another generation of hawkers and improve their competence and food offerings.

Patrick Liew Siow Gian (Dr)