Recently outside City Plaza in Paya Lebar, a group of Indonesian maids turned their rest day into a side hustle by setting up what looked like a mini pasar malam.
They were selling chicken rice, fruits, drinks, the usual comfort food. The catch is, all this is technically illegal.
Some of them walked around with bags of homemade food, while others simply laid everything out in the open.
And people still bought, even when the prices were higher than the shops inside.
One chicken rice stall owner said his business dropped by about 20 percent.
That already tells you something about demand.
People are curious, maybe even prefer that kind of home cooked taste over regular stall food.
But here is the sticky part.
The Singapore Food Agency (SFA) stepped in, saying unlicensed hawking is against the law and also risky because the food never goes through safety checks.
Fair point, hygiene is no small matter.
At the same time, some of these women admitted they are just trying to earn a little extra, often without their employers even knowing.
So we end up in this tricky grey zone. On one hand, rules exist for a reason.
On the other, you cannot deny the entrepreneurial spirit.
These maids are showing resourcefulness, turning their cooking into income, even though it puts them in trouble with the law.
Authorities say enforcement will continue, but they will also direct those in financial difficulty to social service agencies.
The question is, will that really help, or will the food stalls outside City Plaza keep popping up every weekend anyway?
Credits: The New Paper
