SMU Provost Professor Lily Kong commented that if Singapore’s hawker listing is successful, an enhanced sense of pride and ownership in the country’s cultural heritage will be forged. She noted that the process itself is important as it brings Singaporeans together to articulate what it is that matters to the nation as it matures. "It is important first and foremost to recognise and valorise aspects of our lives that have come to define and bind us as a people," she added.