Is Singapore Dangerous?

February 23rd, 2009 - In AngryAngMo Blog, Singapore Housing & Living, Singapore Relocation, Singapore Tourism

Yes, it is. Very Much, so you better watch out!

- If you just decided to become the next Heidi Klum or simply maintain your regular body weight and not get tanned, yes, dangerous.
- If you have planned to start saving money and spend your weekends at home, sitting in front of an exciting bonfire, yes, dangerous.

- If you are of an open minded, exploring and tolerant nature… no worries, you will love it!

Continue reading, to see if Singapore fits your needs and why “Low Crime doesn’t mean No crime”.

Dangerous Singapore Sign Photo by Taylorandayumi

This is the third part of our new famous series “Afraid To Ask – What You really Want To Know About Singapore”. Questions that reach me through my blog, and that wont get discussed like this anywhere else.

Is Playing Chess Dangerous?

Asking if Singapore is dangerous is a too general question and cant be answered in a simple way. I know what you mean but there isn’t that “one” answer to your question, as you probably expect me to give you.

Compare it to asking if playing a game of chess is dangerous – first thought, of course not, this also goes for Singapore.

Second thought, if you play chess, you bit your house and money on your win and your opponent is the local Mafia boss, yes, you can consider it dangerous. Same goes for Singapore. The governments marketing team put this in the famous words of“Low Crime Doesn’t Mean No Crime”.

A Safe Place To Live

I take it that your question “Is Singapore Dangerous?” is mainly directed towards general living conditions in regards to financial security and social security. Questions one might ask about a place before moving there or upon being asked to move there.

A quick google search will bring you hundreds of results, all summed up kind of telling you that Singapore is so safe that even leaving your wallet as mark of “reservation” in a public and crowded food court is nothing to worry about (which really happens, although I like the company-pass one even better).

And to give you a personal first answer. I live here since two years now, and I can very clearly state, “Yes, it is”. But its still not Disneyland.

Singapore has one of the lowest crime rates in the world, and the governments harsh ruling against illegal things of all sorts, from Chewing Gum to Drug Trafficking, guarantees a little dot in South East Asia, that cant be compared to Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and their likes, when it comes to the above two main factors. Financial and Social security.

Midnight At The Subway Station

I first thought about this post when I went home from a late works evening and stood at one of the not so frequented Subway stations around midnight. Alone.

And when I compared my level of comfortableness, with the level I experienced at similar situations in London or Frankfurt, around the same time, and at an comparable less frequented station, in this case, my fingers weren’t cramped around my plastic pen just in case I would need to defend myself against that (not existing) group of drunken troublemakers next to me.

Especially for woman I would consider the safety level in public environments of a very big plus when it comes to the criteria for and against moving here.

CCTV in Singapore Photo by Andyrob

Principles Of A Golden Cage

I heard people saying once that they felt kind of sitting inside a golden cage while staying in Singapore. And I tend to understand what they mean.

Living in Singapore You are overly protected from all kind of threads, but you are also overly regulated and controlled, as I did not experience it elsewhere before.

Be prepared to get watched by CCTV cameras following your every footstep and to be asked for passport number when booking a cinema ticket.
Demonstrations and the loud public expression of your critical opinion are still frowned upon and there is always an equal number of skeptical security guards to the number of present “normal” people.

I would not go as far as saying we live in a golden cage, but there is definitely a price to pay for the general high level of security in Singapore.

Yes, You Can Get Robbed

Finally the governments slogan “Low Crime Doesn’t Mean No Crime” comes to a mentioning.

A general misconception of Singapore is that it is a 100% safe place, and then your mobile phone gets stolen and you complain at your embassy about misleading information about Singapore.

There is no such place that guarantees you total safety, and same goes for Singapore. You are relatively safe here of loosing all the money on your bank account through governmental backed bail out plans, and you are relatively safe here of getting kidnapped of robbed on brought daylight…

BUT

Please don’t forget that there are always people, groups, individuals who aren’t the ones they might pretend to be.

Yes, even in Singapore you can get approached by the typical Scamming schemes and pocket thiefs, you might get into trouble when visiting “dubious” bars late after midnight and yes, if you leave your mobile phone on the table behind you while reading your book at Starbucks, it might get stolen. So watch out! But you can feel comfortable while doing so..

Your Opinion About A Safety Or Dangerous Singapore

Let us know what your experiences are in Singapore, did you get robbed, had a car accident, felt safe or not? Please share your opinion in the comments below. Thanks!

Or Check Out Previous Posts In Our Huge ARCHIVE! (click here) About The Author:
AngryAngMo is a Blog / Guide about Singapore and its unique character, written by an Asia experienced 26 year young expat living and surviving in Singapore since years!
Discovering new interesting and strange things everyday, he provides guides, news and tips for how to survive Singapore and how to best prepare for it.

Follow him now on TWITTER and get the full AngryAngMo dose!
Or Subscribe to his RSS FEED and get all the daily updates automatically!