SINGAPORE: An Asian American tourist recently took to Reddit on r/askSingapore on Tuesday (Dec 2) to share how he was “absolutely amazed” by Singapore and wondered why some Singaporeans don’t like their country.
“In reality, I hear Singaporean complain alot, choose to immigrate to western countries and saw quite a few negative comments on LKY and his party’s policy. Why is that? from an outsider, I am jealous of Singaporean. Please give me some examples of issue that are not first world problem or spoiled kid’s complain,” the tourist, u/user_withoutname, wrote.
The tourist said he had been to China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Laos, and Malaysia. However, when he visited Singapore, he claimed that everything was “fantastic” not just by ‘Malaysia’s standard’ but also compared to the cities in the US, China, and Japan.
“I have nothing but respect for LKY and his team. the modernization, people, nature, museum, healthcare etc are top-tier in the world. It’s literally a utopia city for me,” he added.
Singaporeans: ‘Grass is always greener on the other side’
One SG Redditor said: “I think generally, some Singaporeans who complain about living here aren’t aware of the living situation elsewhere. Like others said, the grass is always greener (on the other side).”
While another added, “I don’t disagree that Singapore can be a great place to live or visit, but this is subjective. If one earns a good income and is from the majority race, one is likely to have a good life – I am one of them.”
Another one pointed out that Singaporeans had a ‘high standard of living’ but a ‘low quality of life.’ And although the country is considered a ‘first world’ in every standard, most Singaporeans “live in flats that are smaller than 90 sqm, travel by crowded public transport, go to cookie cutter malls for leisure, probably will never own a car in their whole life etc.”
“We go holidays once or twice a year and that’s all really we get to experience “life”. Heck you can even cycle around the island in a day if you want to.”
One SG Redditor added: “You see Singapore through the lens of a tourist. It’s not to say there is nothing good in Singapore. Just that for those living in Singapore, they see the other side. The daily grinds, pressure, and constant comparison with each other are the ugly side that tourists won’t be able to see.”
Are Singaporeans really unhappy?
Studies have been conducted over the years to determine how unhappy or dissatisfied Singaporeans are or how frequently they complain.
In August 2023, Channel News Asia revealed that the OneService app receives a staggering 1.7 million complaints annually from Singaporean residents regarding municipal issues.
Also, according to a National Institutes of Health study from 2023, nearly 90% of young adults in Singapore worked 44 hours a week on average, which deters them from engaging in healthy habits.
Furthermore, young adults trying to establish themselves financially, support their families, and make future plans find it extremely difficult to live in Singapore due to the high cost of living.
Moreover, 76 per cent of respondents in an Accenture survey stated they were dissatisfied with their jobs, placing Singapore as the country with the second-lowest job satisfaction among those polled.
Finally, as reported by The Straits Times in November 2023, a Geneva-based private bank revealed that compared to their counterparts in other regions of Asia-Pacific, Singapore’s wealthiest citizens are the least satisfied with their current work-life balance.
Yet, Singapore remains one of the happiest countries in the world
According to the World Happiness Report, Singapore was ranked the 25th happiest country in the world in 2023, moving up two places from 2022.
The seven main criteria used to rank the countries were GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom to make life decisions, generosity, and perceptions of corruption and dystopia.
At number 25, Singapore was also found to be the happiest country in Asia, closely followed by Taiwan at number 27.
Other Asian countries that made the list were Japan (47), Malaysia (55), Thailand (60), China (64), Vietnam (65), the Philippines (76), Indonesia (83), and India (126).
Read related: UN report says Singapore is happiest country in Asia