Not long ago, there was an Irish exchange student who wrote a reflection piece on what life was like in SMU and Singapore compared to Ireland.

Her piece was considered too shallow, and excessively generalised Singapore.

Now, another expat, YouTube user Angmolia, chronicled his experiences in Singapore. This time however, this European responded in a different medium, and came to a completely different conclusion.

He made 2 videos explaining why Singapore is, perhaps surprisingly, better than Sweden.

The videos deal with market and public order respectively.

The market

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Housing

He criticised the Swedish government for implementing rent control, which severely restricted housing, leading to inordinate wait times, an average of 10 years, for flats.

Next, he recalled an experience where due to his impending move out of Singapore, he was unwilling to purchase a flat.

So he had to stay in his brother's old flat, which he complained was too big for him.

Super relatable to Singaporeans

He then praised the wide variety of housing choices available in Singapore.

"There is always an abundance of choice whether you are a citizen or not, and no one has to stand in line to find a place to stay."

To prove this, he pointed to the availability of condominiums.

"Because the non-HDB market is brimming with condos, that are more attractive than HDB housing anyway."

His other points are quite self explanatory.

Lower cost of food

The middle class can afford to eat out every day if they like.

More maids and private security.

We think the private security part is in reference to that one security guard at condominium entrances, also yeah, that is the picture of maids he used.

Public order

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Crimes

The second video was far more straightforward.

Sweden has a lot of crimes; Singapore, not so much.

Here are most of his points — we've not elaborated too much on them, because they are basically a rehash of a social studies class.

Sweden — Graffiti

Singapore — No graffiti

Sweden — Homeless in the train stations

Singapore — No homeless in train stations

Cones

Now, Angmolia did make a very poignant point in his video.

Singaporeans will be familiar with these cones around Singapore.

According to Angmolia though, Sweden can't use these types of cones anymore, because it will get vandalised or stolen.

Interesting.

Generalisations

While the video effusively praises Singapore, there is a need to place some perspective on things.

Because if we took one foreigner to task for overly generalising Singapore when she made some critiques, we shouldn't give a free pass to another, just because he is praising us.

We will just point out a few iffy points in the housing portion of his first video, for instance.

For many who live here, the alternatives to HDBs aren't condominiums, as Angmolia stated, but smaller HDBs.

His assertion that "no one has to stand in line to find a place to stay" also doesn't take into account issues of balloting, and waiting for BTO's.

And while an average Swede leaves home at around 21 years old, a Singaporean male would still be in National Service at that time.

Cars on fire

Perhaps the most telling imagery from the two videos is this:

Angmolia standing in front of 2 burning Swedish cars, talking about Singapore being relatively better.

Because these two videos are less of a love letter to Singapore, and more of a well-produced middle finger to Sweden.

There are a lot of good things associated with Singapore — in some aspects we are better than most countries, but using those reasons to taper over legitimate issues might inadvertently serve to stifle conversation rather than aid it.

Top image from Angmolia's Youtube video

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