Young woman forgets her MRT card after topping up S$60, returns to find it exactly where she left it: ‘Singaporeans are honest and ethical’

SINGAPORE: If there is one thing many locals take great pride in about Singapore, it is how safe and trustworthy the country feels.

That sense of security was recently highlighted by one Singaporean, who took to social media after recovering her MRT card exactly where she had accidentally left it, even though it had been unattended for around 20 minutes.

In a post on the r/asksg forum, the young woman shared that at about 7.20 am, she topped up her MRT card with S$60 at Pasir Ris Mall before accidentally leaving it in the top-up machine and walking away.

It was only about 20 minutes later that she realised the card was missing.

“I rushed back, but since it was my first time at Pasir Ris MRT, it took me a while to find the top-up machine. Luckily, my card was still there. I know it was my own carelessness, but I’m grateful that no one took it. It reminded me how honest and ethical many people are in Singapore.”

Her post soon filled with comments from other locals who recounted similar experiences.

One commenter said he had forgotten to “lock his front door” more than once and had “even left parcels sitting outside his home” for days without anyone entering the house or stealing a thing.

“[This is the] one good thing about living here,” he wrote.

Another recalled queuing for food at a hawker centre when a man pointed out a S$2 note lying on the floor, believing it belonged to him.

“A man pointed at a $2 note on the floor in front of me, thinking it was mine. It wasn’t, so I asked the 2 ladies in front of and behind me. Both politely said it wasn’t theirs, and we offered to let the first man take it. Feeling surprised, he accepted, and that was it.”

Someone else shared that she had once left her card in a ticket machine when she was a college student. “I only realised it near the end of the day, rushed back to the MRT and asked the passenger service officer.. thankfully someone passed it to them.”

A fourth commenter said he had accidentally left his AirPods at a café and only realised they were missing about 90 minutes later. 

When he returned, they were still exactly where he had left them. He joked that perhaps everyone assumed he was simply “chope-ing” the table.

Last year, a foreigner also decided to test just how safe the city-state really is by leaving her mobile phone at a train station.

Mary, who goes by @swizzyinsg on TikTok, asked in a Sept 30 (Tuesday) video, “How safe is Singapore REALLY?”

She set up her phone in front of the doors of a train at the Chinatown MRT station and proceeded to board it, waving goodbye shortly before the doors closed.

Read more: Woman proves that SG is one of the safest places in the world by leaving her phone at Chinatown MRT station