Whenever a pasar malam pops up near his neighbourhood, Sengkang resident Gordon Chia would make it a point to visit it almost daily.
“But now, even though a pasar malam would appear near my place once in a while and I have to walk through it to get to work or go home, I rarely buy anything,” he said, attributing it to costliness.For decades, trade fairs such as festive bazaars and neighbourhood pasar malam - Malay for night market - have been a common sight in Singapore.
Vendors, organisers and customers told TODAY that beyond these goods, the pasar malam provides an avenue for visitors toWhile these fairs have undergone some positive changes over the years, such as being generally cleaner and having better layouts, other developments are not so welcome. One issue that sticks out in particular, as highlighted by Mr Chia and Kishan, is the escalating prices of the pasar malam offerings.
As for pasar malam in the heartlands, a 20-day fair at Our Tampines Hub with 50 stalls had a tender value of S$171,000, according to publicly available information on the government procurement site Gebiz. “I think, if nothing is done, pasar malam might not be around anymore in three to four years’ time,” said Mr Fraze Tan Boon Leng, 35, a third-generation owner of Hock Kee Birds Nest drink stall, a family business that has been operating at night markets since the 1980s.
Ms May Oh, 62, the owner of the stall from which Ms Yati was buying from, has been plying the trade for the last 15 years, selling cheap household products ranging from kitchen knives to reading glasses.She said that while she sees a healthy mix of customers, the bulk of them are seniors. She attributed this to the younger crowd being able to buy items that she sells from online sites instead.These trade fairs, which are not permanent, also offer visitors a sense of novelty.
“If I open a stall at pasar malam, I get to sell to different customers in different parts of Singapore. And because the stall is not permanent, some customers might feel the urge to buy more before we close,” said Mr Tan of Hock Kee Birds Nest Drink stall. “Retailers also see bazaars as an opportunity to generate awareness to bring in new customers into their regular business, or use this as an outreach platform to draw visitors to their e-commerce platforms,” she said.
Visitors who spoke to TODAY also appreciated the cashless payment options more commonly offered at stalls now, and better thought-through layout of the bazaars and pasar malam, with more walking space and dedicated seats for people to enjoy their snack haul.However, shifts in market conditions are eroding the attractiveness of pasar malam.
She attributed the change in fortune to the rising rent and overall costs, as well as the shrinking customer base. Rental rates for some stalls at pasar malam have easily doubled since about four to five years ago, according to vendors at various fairs who spoke to TODAY. While generally accepted at neighbourhood night markets, consumers and some vendors found these game booths a little out of place at the Geylang Serai Ramadan bazaar during this festive season.
Mr Hussin Said had worked at various pasar malam stalls in his teenage years, and has been running his own stall since 2019 under the Mango Bossku brand. For example, Associate Professor Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim, Minister of State for Home Affairs and National Development, said that the bazaar at Geylang Serai had attracted over 3 million visitors as of Apr 14, a week before the bazaar was scheduled to end.
He said that having been a stallholder himself at the bazaar many years ago, he sympathised with these vendors. However, he added that they were evicted only as a last resort after being issued multiple reminders and warnings for not paying rent. The successful tenderer will set the rent “based on market rates”, he said in response to a question by opposition Member of Parliament Faisal Manap from the Workers’ Party.
“In considering the tender, price is one factor amongst others. In the case of the bazaar, the award did not go to the bidder with the highest price,” the minister said. TODAY's check of Gebiz, the government procurement site, shows that the tender for Ramadan bazaar at Geylang Serai this year was awarded to a consortium of three companies comprising TLK Events Management, Enniche Global Trading and S-Lite Events, at a value of S$2.26 million.
Other companies which had unsuccessfully bidded for the Geylang Serai bazaar project agreed with Mr Mustaffa, saying that their companies are smaller and would be less able to afford paying a large tender sum to PA. While he could not recall the evaluation criteria that year, he said that the fact that Orange was only the fourth-highest bidder at that time and was still able to win the tender shows that there was less emphasis on tender value on PA’s part so bidders could compete in other areas such as providing a good bazaar experience.
As for the identity of the key players among pasar malam operators, vendors interviewed by TODAY said that there are only a handful of such companies. “In a market with a few big players, these players exert significant control over the market. They have more resources and understanding of how the tender process works. The players may also have a mutual understanding of how they would 'share' the market, which may lead to anti-competitive practices,” she said.
“As you come out there , you walk around, you see your neighbours, you may get to meet people. So it also encourages people to come out of their houses and do something,” said Mr David, who is also deputy chairperson for the Government Parliamentary Committee for Culture, Community and Youth, and Education.