ANG MOH IN S’PORE ASKS WHY PEOPLE KEEP STARING AT HER, IS IT NORMAL IN S’PORE

s it considered rude to stare in Singapore and other parts of South East Asia?

I’m a 28 year old exchange student with caucasian background that has been living in Singapore for two and a half months now and so far I’ve been loving my experience here.

However, there are a couple things that do make me uncomfortable, and one of them is being stared at.

I often get stared at a lot here in public and I thought it may just be because I have blonde hair and blue eyes, which makes me stand out, but many of my exchange student friends experience this as well, some of which also have mixed Asian backgrounds as well.

We thought it may just be something that happens here in Singapore, but when travelling in Malaysia and then in India, the staring only got more intense.

Is staring socially acceptable here in Singapore and other parts of Asia? At first I thought it was an element of curiosity, yet myself and my friends seem to be met with a stand-offish demeanour or sometimes rudeness if we have tried to talk or interact to many Singaporeans in general, which makes it hard to get to know people here, which sometimes makes us think people here might not be as open to getting to know foreigners.

Is this true or can anyone shed some light on something we might be missing here?

Netizens’ comments

1. We don’t talk to strangers in general. The “offstandish” attitude you receive is probably because we find it weird that a stranger is chatting us up. Staring, depends. Not everyone stares but some do.
2. I think you need to separate your experiences.
   Part 1: being stared at.
   – I do think it is out of curiosity or that you’re good looking. You’re gonna get stared at a lot, especially if you’re going to less touristy areas in SEA because locals there may not have much exposure to foreigners.
   Part 2: been met with rudeness when interacting with people
   – I think Asian people generally keep to themselves so they might be caught off-guard when you suddenly initiate a conversation.
   – Language barrier may also be a factor. If they don’t understand you, they might try to escape from the situation by ignoring you/walking away hahaha.
   – it also depends on what you’re talking to them about. If you just randomly approach someone off the streets to ask them about their lives, you might have been the rude one.