‘These days truth is a multiple choice answer’ — KF Seetoh on conflicting reports about Geylang Ramadan bazaar

SINGAPORE: Food guru KF Seetoh called out a newspaper for what appears to be conflicting reporting regarding the Geylang Serai Ramadan bazaar in a recent Facebook post. “Soooo, one politician was quoted by the media saying the Geylang Bazaar hawkers made their 18k rental revenue in a week. The same media also reported the hawkers are struggling and an online news portal says the hawkers regret taking up a stall. These days truth is a multiple choice answer. Anything oso can say,” the Makansutra founder wrote on April 9.

The politician Mr Seetoh refers to is Minister of State for Home Affairs and National Development Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim.

In a Facebook post about the bazaar on April 4, he wrote, “During my walks, I have chatted with some vendors to check on how they are doing. Very happy to know that many of the businesses are doing very well, and some have even covered their rental cost after a week.”

He was quoted two days later in The Straits Times, covering Assoc Prof Faishal’s remarks that over two million people had visited the bazaar since it opened on Mar 17.

However, on Mar 29, ST also ran a story about how the stallholders at the bazaar complained about high rental costs and steep competition.

And the same day of ST’s story quoting Assoc Prof Faishal’s remarks about the success of the bazaar, CNA also ran an article quoting a hawker who said, “We’re all losing money. (We) cannot cover costs, cannot even cover rent.”

The story also quoted one worker who said, “We regret taking (a stall at the bazaar) this year. It was okay in previous years.”

On Mar 22, Mr Seetoh wrote about the high cost of stalls at the bazaar.

“$18,000 a mth a stall, for the Geylang Serai Ramadan bazaar , easily, the world’s most expensive pasar malam stall offering an unproportionately cheap menu. Even top pop-up markets in prime time New York or LA cannot hold a candle to this.” /TISG

https://theindependent.sg/geylang-serai-stallholders-who-paid-over-20k-rent-regret-taking-stalls-but-pap-mp-praises-record-number-of-visitors/