SINGAPORE: A recent social media post has stirred a conversation about whether Singaporeans are happy. It began when a Singaporean recounted a tourist’s observation that people in Singapore seemed so unhappy. In his post, he shared, “I was doing a survey on tourists a few days ago and one of them said, ‘Your country is beautiful and nice, but the people seem so unhappy.
’” “ When I asked him why he said that, he said when he was on the MRT everyone was on the phone, looking so upset, on the streets nobody was smiling and 95% of the people just looked very unhappy and were quite unfriendly to tourists overall,” he added. To this, he answered, “I guess everyone’s just working and stressed out.” The tourist went on to compare Singapore with Dubai, noting that despite the high-pressure work environments in both cities, Dubai’s residents seemed not as unhappy as Singpaoreans .
“ You’re smiling at me right now, you must be the 5% that’s happy with life in Singapore!” the tourist said to him. “I do agree with him though, the majority of the people here seem very unhappy. I do love my country but just thinking about adult life here in the future is so tiring to me,” he added.
This comparison struck a chord with the locals online, with many saying that Singaporeans’ unhappiness is due to the country’s demanding work culture. One commenter said, “It’s because of Singapore’s culture of forcing everyone to be in the rat race chasing cold hard ca.