SINGAPORE: A man claimed to find “everything” in Singapore to be cheap, adding that it makes him cringe when his colleagues complain about high prices.
In a post on the Complaint Singapore Facebook group page on Thursday (Dec 12), Nizam Nizam, apparently a Malaysian who said he used to live in Kuala Lumpur, wrote that “only cars” are expensive in Singapore.
When he was based in KL and earned in Malaysian ringgit, the meals and snacks he bought when he went out cost between RM30 (S$9.08) and RM60 (S$18.16), he noted.
Even at a “cheap eatery,” a dish of chicken rice cost RM12 (S$3.64).
But now that he is in Singapore and his salary is in Singapore dollars, he finds everything to be inexpensive, whether it’s meals at fast food joints, hawker centres, or restaurants.
With “local spending power,” he noted, everything is cheap, and when his Singaporean colleagues complain that prices have gone up because of the GST hike, this makes him cringe.
However, there is one item that he finds expensive in Singapore — and that is cars. Even housing is “cheap”, he said, although he described HDB flats as a “shoe box.”
“Travel a bit, and you will know your government has done a great job to keep the costs affordable for middle-income families. It’s not easy to do that with SG,” he added.
Mr Nizam’s post sparked a debate among commenters.
One agreed with him, saying when salaries in Malaysia and Singapore are taken into consideration, a Singaporean can buy 600 meals in Singapore, while a Malaysian can only buy 350 meals.
They also noted Singapore’s efficient public transport system, which removes the need to own a car, whereas in Malaysia, owning at least a motorcycle “is a must”.
However, one commenter who said that he lived in Johor Bahru for over 10 years said he found the points the post author made to be “absolutely absurd”.
The post author is hardly the only person who feels that the cost of living is less expensive in Singapore than in Malaysia.
In March, a woman took to social media to say that it came as a surprise to her that living costs in Malaysia are higher, “especially if you consider dollars-to-dollars, ringgit-to-ringgit, without conversion”.
The woman then gave the example of buying a purse. “In Singapore, if you earn 2,000 SGD and you want to spend SGD 200, you can get Coach or Braun Buffel. If you don’t convert SGD to RM, you can easily afford the international brands with your income.
“But in Malaysia, if you earn RM2000, the Coach bag is RM600. You’d have to earn three times as much to afford the same lifestyle.”
The Independent Singapore has reached out to the post author for additional comments or updates. /TISG
Read also: Malaysian woman says the cost of living in Malaysia is higher than in Singapore