Bizarre Behaviour of Singaporeans
- observations made by a German national who has lived in Singapore for 9 years.
44 years of economic and material success have spawned some very strange behaviours among Singaporeans.
They spent so much to buy a house or flat, furnished it up like a palace, but spent their time outside, most of the time at work. And the maids are the ones enjoying the million-dollar or multi-million-dollar assets..
Then they pay so much, the highest in the world, for a car only to park at home. Too expensive to drive, too many ERPs and car park charges to pay. And they are encouraged to park their cars at home and take public transport, being cheaper and more convenient.
And when Singaporeans travel, instead of seeing the places, they went shopping. The best part is that they would head for the cheapest bargains, buying stuff that they could get in Chinatown or pasar malam, at even cheaper prices. But they are still happy that they got a bargain.
And while the heartlanders are busy trying to make a life here, being told to bust off if they are not happy, which they could not, the rich and presumably very happy and contented citizens are buying up properties overseas just in case they need to make that escape from this paradise.
While many Singaporeans are thinking of jumping ship, or preparing to jump ship, hoards of new immigrants are rushing in to take their place in this paradise.
And to top it all up, they keep complaining about the govt and all the policies that they found unpalatable, but come every election, they will vote and return the govt to power.
Strange Singaporean behaviours!
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Every foreigner I know also says the same thing, this country is the strangest amongst all the developed countries.
Where do you find people paying half a million dollars or more for a 99 year lease piegon holes and having the government talking down to it’s people blaming them for every concerns they raised. Only in Singapore!
Strange indeed!
i like singapore including quirky behaviours. we are all human and do silly things, all over the world.
just learn to laugh at yourself, we all should.
a happy 10+years foreigner in SG
Agree 100%.
Singapore affair and development is a matter for Singapore and Singaporean. We will decide who will come and the circumstance in which they come.
hell yeah, Singaporeans are really weird. its time for the final solution!
sorry that was in poor taste, please ignore and delete
“And to top it all up, they keep complaining about the govt and all the policies that they found unpalatable, but come every election, they will vote and return the govt to power.”
Saddam Hussein got 99% of the votes when he was in power. Suppose you know how “democracy” works in this country since you have been here for the past 9 years.
I feel bizarre by your feeling bizarre!
Dear foreigners,
What is strange to me is while these foreigners whine about Singapore and the people, they LOVE being in Singapore! The almighty foreigners think they have the right to scrutinize Singaporeans while enjoying the peace and rich economy of this country. These foreigners are probably jobless in their own country. A country (developed or not) is built by people, and people come from different cultures. This is the Singapore way of life. Perhaps, it’s the Singapore way that make Singapore a strong country, and Singaporean rich, educated, hardworking and so welcoming of foreigners. Perhaps, foreigners like you should learn to be more like a Singaporean – open minded!
Hi May,
Well said – I guess Singaporeans are nice people who tried their best to welcome in foreigners.
However, the past few years have being a relentless influx of foreigners competing for all kinds of PMET jobs with the local Singaporeans.
Once our basic ricebowl is affected, we will not take it lying down.
We will not resort to intimidating tactics of course but we will make alot of noise to our government to stop this huge influx which has caused all kinds of infrastructure problems in the country.
Lastly, we are not targetting foreigners per se but if you are caught in this cross-fire, we apologise.
If your own country is being besieged likewise, I am sure that you will strike out doubly hard.
Gilbert Goh
Learn to be like Singaporean, open minded ? Are you kidding me, Singaporean and open minded doesn’t go together. Singaporeans are the most close minded people I have seen among developed countries. Like the horse with blinders on, typical Singaporean is dumbfounded when there are no SOPs or instructions given by “authority”, all ability to think for himself were “educated” out by local system. Open minded, ha-ha.
Well we have an open country and we welcome educated foreigners for the high end jobs. If you watch the behavior of these foreigners they keep within their group, and speak in their language.
Germany has a big issue with immigrants who have not forgotten their roots but are german citizens. Its avtime bomb waiting to explode and so the other european countries.
The economy of these countries is about to collapse so we will find more European looking for jobs here.
Its a very safe country,and we can afford to purchase expensive houses and cars-
Interestingly, it’s only his observation and undeniably true.
Why the ‘personal attack’ instead of engaging in his (German PR’s) observation.
I’m a Singaporean but towards his observation, I have no choice but to agree.
However, I should point out though it’s true, I believed he left out certain info that makes it incomplete.
1st of all, many situations/policies are not within control of its citizens. We don’t and cannot price the flats we lived in in the way we like. And it generally not across the board that no one stays in a well-furnished home (by that I mean its owners).
And well, there may not be any other who are capable of for its citizen to vote. You know what I mean. Not a matter of we have the right to vote but do we have another capable option out there for us to vote.
Voting against per se should never be done so for the sake of it, that would create another a headline ‘Foolish Votes: For The Sake of Opposing’.
In agreement, no citizens want lowly jobs when one have ‘no choice’…??!! Isn’t lowly job a choice as well? Where is the virtue of working hard and smart to climb the ladder?
Introspectively, we got do some soul searching.