A netizen who is an expat working in Singapore, shared how he thinks people who live in HDB are low class, drawing the ire of netizens.

Here is what he said

I am an expat working in Singapore, earning about $25k per month in the banking industry. I live in a condominium in the east side of Singapore where the people and community are very nice.

My girlfriend lives in a HDB in the west side of Singapore, and there were a few times I visited her HDB block to pick her up for lunch.

I see youths smoking at the void decks and throwing their cigarette butts on the floor, and the rubbish bins are always full.

The rubbish chute area is overflowing with rubbish and the pungent smell is everywhere, and cockroaches were crawling everywhere.

Sometimes I take the lift to go up to my girlfriend’s floor and i try to be friendly and smile at the residents inside the lift, and they just stare at me coldly.

I also saw a mother and toddler son at the foot of the HDB block, with the mother helping her child urinate on the grass patch beside the HDB building, under a tree.

My impression of people living in HDB are pretty much negative, and to me they all seem like low class people. But that’s just me and my observations-based prejudices.

My condo is clean, the neighbours are friendly, there is no rubbish smell emanating from anywhere and there are definitely no cockroaches crawling around in public spaces.

Netizen’s comments

Dear sir, with all respect, your opinion on people living in HDB building cannot be anymore wrong. To address some of your points:

1. it is illegal to smoke in HDB void decks, and the youths that you saw smoking were flagrantly breaking the law. Normally, HDB void decks are smoke free.
2. The rubbish chute issue that you mentioned is as its name implies, for rubbish. If you can find a rubbish chute that smells nice, I’d be happy to retract this point and give you your due points. Chances are, you haven’t been to the rubbish chute of your own condominium. Why don’t you take a quick trip to your condo’s rubbish chute and get back to me.
3. You mentioned that the HDB residents are cold to you when you’re inside the lift with them, and compared their attitudes to your condo neighbours. Has it ever occurred to you that you don’t live in that HDB building, and that you are a stranger? Of course people are gonna look at you one kind. Your neighbours are warm and friendly towards you in your condo because you live there and they know you.
4. It is also illegal to urinate in public, so i guess you get points for your point about the mother helping her child urinate under the block. But public urination is not a problem exclusive to HDB blocks and residents, take a stroll along Singapore’s pubs and bars at night, you will see human-sprinklers easing themselves in alleys, roads and even staircases; sometimes even inside malls.
5. Please do not generalize all those who live in HDB building with your uneducated views and unmitigated prejudices, it shows how shallow you are as a person.

Editor’s note: Sia lah this netizen who replied the expat deserves a medal or something.

A netizen shared how he blew the entirety of his $700 GST voucher in one night at a siam diu in Golden Mile, and is back to being broke and jobless.

Here is what he said

“I have been jobless for the last 4 months, and am down to my last $200. I am barely surviving and depending on my parents for money until I can get back to my feet.

Anyway recently the GST voucher of $700 was credited into my account, and I was so excited that I may have gone a little overboard and carried away.

My friends are always asking me to go out and drink and when I still had a job and income, it was no issue for me, we would go drinking at the pubs or siam dius every other weekend.

But ever since I lost my job, things have been a little different. I stopped drinking with my friends for a few months because I simply couldn’t afford it anymore.

Anyway, so when I got my GST voucher, I really wanted to go out and have a little fun and destress from my unemployment.

I asked my friends to drink at Golden Mile, and my plan was just to spend maybe $100 or so and just chill drink, and have some money left over from the GST vourcher to survive until the end of the month.

So as the night went on, we kept ordering beer tower after tower and we took turns paying. Then it got out of hand when we started opening bottle after bottle.

Then I was talking to this Siam Bu and we got on very well, and then she went up on stage to sing and I didn’t want her to think that I was broke, so I hung $100 flower for her.

The whole night i was calculating how much money I had left from the GST voucher, but the more I drank, the more buzzed and confused I became and eventually stopped counting.

And when the night ended, all of us went out separate ways and I flagged down a taxi to go home. But when I reached home, I tried to pay the taxi fare but my debit card transaction was declined.

I thought to myself, I thought I had my GST voucher? What happened to the money inside? I told the uncle to wait while I opened my banking app to check, and found out that I was left with $12 inside.

I had to call my mum to transfer me some money to pay for the taxi fare and I apologised to the taxi driver before alighting.

I really wanted to spend only $100 that night but alcohol makes you do stupid things, I blew the entirety of my $700 GST voucher in one night.

Back to square one, in less than a day.

Really in need of some advice.

Sometime in 2019, I met a Singaporean guy on an online dating app and I ended up lending him $90k.

Fast forward to today, he has only paid $11,300 and has always delayed on repayments. He treats me like a fool, always committing to pay on a specific date but the repayments never ever comes in.

Should I:

(i) spend $5k to hire a lawyer to sue him (i have an IOU) and the legal costs can escalate to $30k with possibly nothing to recover cause he really seems broke

(ii) spend $4k upfront on a licensed debt collector and have them take 20% commission on every dollar repaid

What will you do? Really need some advise as I am sick and tired of chasing him for repayment month after month.

Netizens’ comments

• I don’t know.. (ii) is often useless too. Cos I have friends who tried. Maybe do some digging first, like hire a PI. If he still has assets, I suggest going down (i) , see if can find a cheaper lawyer? Also, is he unwilling to pay or don’t have money to pay? If latter.. your 2 options don’t work. Perhaps work out a plan with him if he doesn’t have money to pay. Like instalment scheme or something.
• Don’t use debt collector as the current laws make it very difficult for any debt collector to recover any debt.
  Instead send a letter of demand through a lawyer, few hundred dollars.
  Next apply to seize any assets, personal items at home , car, bank account , (1-5k)
  You need to have details about him. I presume you have his full name and his address. Bank account number as well? If not you need to do some research on him
• I think you should seek legal advice, and if necessary, make him a bankrupt. That will adversely affect him when he wants to purchase a car, property or even apply for a credit card in the future. He is likely to have to declare his bankruptcy to his workplace too. The Official Assignee will then take over his bankruptcy estate and make him pay monthly contributions to creditors (you). Read more here:

A Singaporean guy shared a post online to ask if any fellow Singaporean male out there faced the same issues as him on accommodation choices after marriage.

He shared that staying with his fiancee’s parents would be a better option for his fiancee and himself but he faced slight reservations from his parents because they are all for the tradition that the ‘wife should move in with the husband’s side instead.’

Here is what he shared

‘Guy here. Staying by ourselves/staying with my parents/staying with fiancee’s parents are all on the table for us after marriage, but staying with my future in-laws seems to be the option with the most practical benefits. Except that my parents have slight reservations due to the traditional notion that it is the daughter-in-law who is the one that is supposed to be marrying into the family and not the other way round.

Thankfully, they are still mostly supportive and won’t be fussy as long as we visit them often enough, but just curious if there are any other guys out there who encountered resistance when moving in with their in-laws.’

Replies from netizens

• I was already staying with my Mother-in-law (MIL) before I married my wife, as my Father-in-law passed away long ago. My family is quite open-minded, and my MIL is staying in a terrace also so it makes sense for me to move in.

Bought BTO and going to complete in Q2 2023 then my MIL gonna sell her terrace for retirement and move in with us.

An advice is to make sure you are comfortable with another person staying under the same roof. This will change your lifestyle and living habits as well because you have to consider them as part of your daily routine (e.g. buy food for them, bring them out, etc…)

• why would you ever voluntarily want to live with your in-laws? what are the “practical benefits”?
• Do whatever that is the most practical for you i.e. saving money/time on travel. It is an open society now your parents should be more open minded as well.

Image source: Unsplash

I dated a poor guy. We were both from NUS, graduated so in love and very much in debt. Blame that on the student loans we had to take.

Our dates were mostly hunting for cheap and good hawker food, cooking at home, going shopping in neighbourhood markets, streaming movies online and cuddling.

We didn’t celebrate anniversaries, partly because he couldn’t afford and always refused to have me pay for everything, but mostly as we didn’t bother to remember the dates.

For everyday we were together in the past years was special and I would not trade my days with him for any gold or diamonds.

I love my poor boyfriend, except now that he has becomed my debt-free/start-up owner/decent income earner/still extremely hot fiancée.

We still don’t celebrate anniversaries, and we still go hunting for cheap deals. He still opens the door for me, pulls out chairs and tells me he loves me everyday.

We just bought our first home together in a pretty condo (missed the HDB income ceiling by a few thousands) and are expecting our first baby in a few months time.

Girls, believe in your men. They might struggle at times but if you love them unconditionally, they would do anything to give you the happy endings you deserve