Singaporeans react to ’emotionless’ tag

Map of Singapore

SINGAPORE – Singaporeans have reacted to a survey depicting them as the world’s most emotionless people with many saying the city state’s competitive culture leaves them no room for feelings.

“Singaporeans are the least likely in the world to report experiencing emotions of any kind on a daily basis,” US-based pollster Gallup said in a report on a three-year study conducted in more than 150 countries.

The Philippines came out as the most emotional society in the world, with Latin American countries dominating the top of the list.

Media in Singapore, one of the world’s wealthiest and most stable societies, gave prominent coverage to the report, setting off some strong reactions.

“Where got time to laugh? Wake up, must fight for place on trains, lunch time, must fight for place to sit down and eat, go home must fight for place on trains,” Edward Alexzandra Peters wrote on Facebook.

Kok Leong commented on Yahoo! Singapore: “It’s so stressful to be living in Singapore. Our mind is all about $$$ – how to survive, how to raise family, tax, etc. Nothing is free here.”

Another commentator wrote on Yahoo: “We have everything, and yet we have nothing. No one in this country actually lives life to the fullest; we merely exist. To our government, we are nothing more than a statistic.”

“How can Singaporeans be the most emotionless in the world when they complain the most every day? I’m baffled,” said a post by Melody on Twitter.

Gallup said it surveyed about 1,000 respondents 15 years old and above in each country annually between 2009 and 2011. They were asked if they felt five positive and five negative emotions the previous day.

The negative feelings were anger, stress, sadness, physical pain, and worry, while the positive emotions were feeling well-rested, being treated with respect, enjoyment, smiling and laughing a lot, and learning or doing something interesting.

Only 36 percent of Singaporeans said they felt any of the emotions, Gallup said.