Being wealthy can often leave people out of touch with the experiences and hardships of regular people, and Singaporeans are no exception.
One netizen, curious about the social gap in Singapore, posed the question on r/Singapore, which quickly went viral.
Users left over 500 upvotes and 44o comments in just one day after it was posted on 19 Jan.
Singapore is smaller than most major cities in other countries. And it has a robust transportation network.
Thus, travelling within the Lion City can be quite convenient.
However, wealthy Singaporeans are still built different.
One commenter shared that they were disappointed that famous singer Adele did not hold concerts outside of Western countries. However, they were surprised by the solution one person replied with.
Source: Reddit
“Oh just book a flight to watch the concert, then come back on the same day,” the commenter recalls them saying.
Not to get outdone, another commenter offered a similar story.
“I played badminton with a guy a few times, a friend of my regular badminton circle,” the commenter wrote. The guy has since moved to Hong Kong, but that has not stopped him from playing regularly.
“Whenever we played on Friday evenings, he’d catch an afternoon flight from HKIA (Hong Kong International Airport) to Singapore Changi Airport, ride the MRT to Kallang and meet us for badminton,” they continued.
If that was not crazy enough, the commenter even added that they would later find out this was not an economy seat on a cheap flight.
This man flew private jet weekly to catch up with friends over badminton. Though apparently he still rode the MRT.
Source: Reddit
On the topic of private transport, it seems not even cars are exempt. Just getting a Certificate of Entitlement (COE) can be pricey enough for most. Not for wealthy Singaporeans though.
A wealthy person surprised one commenter by saying that not every Singaporean can afford a car.
“They’re very surprised that not every household has a car,” the commenter wrote. As for why this appears to be the expectation, another commenter shared their own separate story that could help explain.
Source: Reddit
“Having wife and friends with multiple cars and houses in Singapore is what should be the basic ownership of their clique,” the comment said.
Source: Reddit
Of course, some people had cars but lacked the proper parking space for them, too. The solution? Just buy a nearby condo.
“My friend dad did not have enough space to park his extra car within his landed terrace so he bought a condo nearby to park his car [sic],” another commenter wrote.
Source: Reddit
Singaporean hawker centres are world famous. In fact, many tourists visit just to get a taste of our world-class yet extremely affordable dishes.
However, it seems that there are locals who have never come close to even experiencing any of this.
One commenter claims to have a friend who has never eaten at a hawker centre. They said the friend ate at Marina Bay Sands as often as other Singaporeans did in food courts.
Source: Reddit
Another netizen shared a similar, separate experience. A friend of theirs asked them to accompany him to the “caifan” (economy rice). Why? Because he had never bought economy rice before and did not know how to do so
Source: Reddit
One commenter wrote that an Indonesian family’s child always tried to pay using a S$1,000 bill at the canteen.
Finally, another netizen described how a wealthy lady off-handedly bought her child a S$5,000 micro-bag to distract them while she shopped for diamonds.
Source: Reddit
Also read: Woman in M’sia asks netizens to buy branded school shoes for daughter, sparks online backlash
Have news you must share? Get in touch with us via email at news@mustsharenews.com
Featured image adapted from Corina Ciocirlan on Canva. Image is for illustration purposes only.