Tourist Says S’pore Has Learned To Eliminate Crime, Leaves Laptop At Starbucks As Test

Tourist Says Singapore Has Learned To Eliminate Crime After Laptop Experiment

Singapore is well-known for having one of the lowest crime rates in the world, making itv a top destination for travellers.

Recently, a tourist decided to put this to the test as he filmed his experience of leaving his laptop unattended for an hour in a Starbucks outlet in the city.

Thankfully, the laptop remained untouched after he returned, proving the experiment successful.

Tourist leaves laptop at Starbucks outlet as a test

On Monday (24 Oct), US-based content creator Uptin Saiidi shared the video with his 678,000 followers on TikTok.

@uptin

♬ original sound – Uptin

In the video, he starts off by telling viewers that the country has one of the lowest crime rates in the world.

Then, he takes his laptop out of his bag, announcing that he would be leaving it unattended for an hour at a random Starbucks outlet.

Mr Saiidi further elaborates that he did not tell anyone to look after it for him, and left to find another place to have lunch.

Says Singapore has learned how to eliminate crime

“Singapore has pretty much learned how to eliminate crime,” he says, citing a statistic where the country had 250 days in a row without common types of crime occurring.

Source: @uptin on TikTok

“That means nobody got their phones stolen for more than 8 months in the whole country,” he added.

Mr Saiidi then goes on to say that there are three main reasons for such low crime rates.

The first reason, he said, is that honesty and fairness are a big part of the culture in Singapore.

Source: @uptin on TikTok

Secondly, the citizens’ basic needs are met, so people don’t feel the need to resort to crime. “Its economy and government programmes make it so,” he says.

In the video, Mr Saiidi even noted that “you will never see a homeless person here”.

Lastly, he said there’s strict surveillance with cameras everywhere to protect from crime and severe consequences for theft.

Source: @uptin on TikTok

At the end of the video, he returns to the Starbucks and sure enough, his laptop remains untouched.

Source: @uptin on TikTok

Netizens express amazement at laptop still being there

The video has since gone viral, with over 16 million views and 2.1 million likes at the time of writing.

Many netizens were amazed by his experiment, and several compared situations if they had done the same in their countries.

One quipped that in South Africa, even their first name would have been stolen.

Source: TikTok

Another comment said that the laptop would have been on the buying and selling platform eBay in less than 10 minutes if they did this in Berlin, Germany.

Source: TikTok

However, another said that they would even find someone charging the laptop in Saudi Arabia.

Source: TikTok

Stay cautious and take care of your belongings

While Mr Saiidi’s experiment has highlighted how safe Singapore is, there’s the old saying that low crime doesn’t mean no crime.

Hence, we should always take precautions and look after our belongings nonetheless and not take Singapore’s safety for granted.

Have news you must share? Get in touch with us via email at news@mustsharenews.com.

Featured image adapted from @uptin on TikTok

Drop us your email so you won't miss the latest news.

  • More From Author