SINGAPORE: “I’m so exhausted and drained and feeling so miserable in Singapore…” were the very words of a Singaporean woman who confessed in a now-viral TikTok video by Shalini Carnis a.k.a Shalz @shalzsaidwhat, which has since amassed 200K views and 9K likes.
She poured out her frustrations about life in modern-day Singapore — touching nerves on everything from rising unemployment and cost of living to racial scrutiny and cultural disconnect. “The biggest burning issue here in Singapore is unemployment,” she stated. “Locals, regardless of age — graduates, millennials, those retrenched, even seniors — are struggling,” she added.
Her raw, unscripted delivery highlighted a growing sentiment among younger Singaporeans: That a single income is no longer enough to get by in the Little Red Dot. “As a middle-class or upper-middle-class person with a median salary of maybe S$5,000 to S$6,000, this income is no longer sufficient. It’s just a baseline,” she said, adding that unless you’re “making big bucks,” survival now requires multiple income streams.
@shalzsaidwhat At this point we should remember to truly live in the moment and cherish what’s truly memorable to us as part of growing up in SG and revisiting places, reminiscing old school foods, games and traditions to keep our SG spirits alive. #sgtiktok #singaporelife #sglife #growingup #growingpains
And though she expressed deep gratitude for being Singaporean and recognised the sacrifices of her ancestors, she did not shy away from calling out the toll that rapid modernisation has taken on everyday life.
“I feel so lost…”
She also mourned the disappearance of simple joys, such as people playing sepak takraw at the void deck, paying with cash at neighbourhood shops, and hanging out at hawker centres and public libraries.
“Everything is so modernised and digitalised. I feel we all lost the human touch and the kampung spirit… I just miss the old nostalgic days, and nothing feels original in Singapore,” she lamented. “I feel so lost.”
“I have this constant fear and anxiety travelling in public…”
Another heartbreaking point she made was the racial scrutiny she faces in public spaces: “I have this constant fear and anxiety travelling in public… people recognise me as a person of colour and are contemplating whether I’m local or a foreigner. I’ve feared for my safety.”
She added that Singaporeans today feel too disconnected to relate to each other, partly due to skin colour issues and partly because “we don’t even know our neighbours anymore.”
“We still expect the support of the government… which should not be the norm…”
Nevertheless, her central frustration was that despite Singapore’s first-world status, locals are still fighting tooth and nail to afford the basics. “We still expect the support of the government for us to build a stable, comfortable life, which should not be the norm… we are not an underdeveloped country.”
She ended her video with a haunting truth: “Life in Singapore used to be the rat race, but it has gone beyond that because we’re just panicking over the future and we’re just panicking about losing our jobs… sad.”
