There's nothing like the experience of an attempted robbery overseas to make a Singaporean grateful for the safety Singapore offers.

Take Redditor nicholasyt, for instance, who in a post on Sunday, Jan. 28 narrated how he was almost mugged by a man who threatened to stab him:

This is his account in full:

About me: Singaporean student studying in London, been here for 3 years with no incident.

Okay, so... I was assaulted and threatened with a shanking today. I am fine, and the wannabe robber got nothing from me except my shoulder in his chest and a hearty cursing.

Full story:

Was walking to the Sainsburys near my place at about 8.30pm, through a small pathway by a school (its quite dark at night).

About 50m to the main road, a black guy about my height and bigger sized, came out of the shadows and threatened to stab me if i dont give him something. He had a hand behind his back, and threatened me aggressively. I told him "bro i got no money, you can take my cigarettes". He said no, and threatened to stab me again. (His hand was behind his back, but i couldnt be sure).

I decided to take my wallet out to show him that I really didnt have any cash on me, so I really couldnt give him any money even if I wanted to (Student pass and debit card in there).

At this point, seeing that I dont have any cash, he attempts to grab my wallet and make a run for it. I hold on to my wallet, and with my other shoulder slam into him as hard as I can (i made a snap decision that he probably didnt have a knife, so I was in no immediate danger of getting stabbed). This threw him off balance and into the wall, so I took a few steps backwards, gave him a loud "F*CK YOU" and walked as briskly as I could to the main road.

Upon failing to get anything from me, he also retreated back into the walkway. As i was getting out of the walkway, his friend (skinny white guy), who had been waiting at the end also came in, shouting for him, but i just walked right past him. I believe his friend was unaware that he had failed to get anything off me.

It is quite shocking that this could happen right next to a school. I have made a police report and will be having officers go through the area to deter any future lurkers in the area.

Stay safe everyone! This was a sobering lesson to always be on your guard, even in everyday activities. Really quite sobering to experience this when we rarely hear such cases in Singapore. Not going to take our safety back home for granted ever again!

According to the original poster (OP), he had been studying in London for three years with no incident.

Although the robber failed to get anything from the OP, he had threatened the latter aggressively and even tried to make a run for it with a (relatively empty) wallet. This was after the OP offered cigarettes to him.

The thug even had an accomplice waiting nearby, but thankfully he did not do anything to the OP.

The incident took place around 8.30pm — early by Singaporean standards — and off the main road.

[related_story]

Really a paradigm shift

Meanwhile, reporters here are conducting experiments by leaving their wallets behind at hawker centre tables to demonstrate our low-crime rate.

Or well, at least one:

Unfortunately, this delicate attempt at novelty was quickly superseded by eagle-eyed Singaporeans noticing, almost immediately, that the reporter had ordered chicken rice at a char kway teow stall, and was subsequently served fried rice.

Nonetheless, statistics from the Singapore Police Force (SPF) show that theft and related crimes registered a 30-year-low in 2016.

It fell by 9.6 per cent to 14,122 cases in that year.

The overall crime rate also fell by 2.2 per cent. Not too shabby, Singapore.

However, online scams remain prevalent, so no one is really safe even when they're at home.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Top image from Pixabay.