The debate of “Singapore vs Malaysia: Which is better?” has been ongoing among locals for quite a while.
But to hear “Malaysia is better than Singapore” from someone who lives in neither of the two countries is quite a sting.
Recently, 18-year-old American TikToker zakattackcalii, who currently lives in Thailand, shared a video ranking the seven Asian countries he’d visited in the last five months.
To the surprise of many, he ranked Singapore the “worst” of the lot, placing it behind Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, South Korea, and Malaysia.
In his video, zakattackcalii, who has nearly 118K followers on TikTok, also made a pointed comparison between Singapore and neighbouring Malaysia due to their similarities.
He first sang praises of Malaysia, naming it his fourth favourite country on the list.
“I really enjoyed Malaysia just because it’s very underrated, you don’t hear many things about Malaysia,” he said, adding that Kuala Lumpur was “beautiful” when he visited.
He also noted that Malaysia had great food and the people were “pretty nice”, and that he didn’t really have any bad experiences there, aside from the few times he got scammed.
But the teen acknowledged that it could “happen in any country” so it’s “not a big deal”.
His comments about Singapore, however, were less favorable.
Zakattackcalii said that Singapore is a place that he would “not recommend” because there’s “nothing to do besides walking around and seeing a few things.”
“Singapore is just so small!” he clucked.
Though he mentioned that the people he met in Singapore were generally “pretty nice”, he had some not-so-pleasant experiences here.
He criticised the service at Marina Bay Sands, saying, “The waiters and waitresses were just not kind at all.”
He then went on to say that Singapore reminded him of Disneyland as everything is “perfect”. Not in a good way, of course.
“Singapore had very little culture which I did not like. I like to go to a country that has a lot of culture and I try to [immerse] myself in it,” he elaborated.
He concluded his video by suggesting that those who wish to visit Singapore head to Malaysia instead.
“It is very similar but 10 times better, with culture, better food, and better buildings,” he urged.
Interestingly, many Singaporeans seemed to agree with zakattackcalii’s perspective on our country.
“As a Singaporean, I couldn’t agree more. Other than being safe and secure, it’s very boring here,” lamented one local.
Another exclaimed: “I’m from Singapore. Preach brother preach!!!”
A Singaporean-turned-Malaysia citizen echoed these sentiments, asking: “Can you name an awesome tourist attraction in Singapore, other than Universal Studios or Sentosa?”