Originally posted by rooki:
Typical Singaporean nerd.
Face it, Singaporeans especially men, are one of the physically weakest in the world. You'd be lucky if you didn't end up dead.
Hark at the pot calling the kettle black. For reasons unknown, many Malaysians (usually civilians) seem to harbour the delusion that they are somehow fitter than Singaporeans- that they themselves have not been softened by urban living, as if they were still born and bred in the kampongs of their grandfather's era, or if they were all Ibans from the jungles of Sarawak.
In reality the average Malaysian (and almost certainly the Malaysian posters here) is in no better physical shape than the average Singaporean. Probably worse, since
31.6% of the Malaysian adult population is overweight and 16.3% is obese, compared to 25.6% and 6.9% of the Singaporean adult population respectively (2004 National Health Survey) *
In other words, I find hilarious these accusations of softness and infirmity coming from our corpulent, porcine neighbours, seeing that MALAYSIANS ARE FATTER.
So who's the physically weakest now, ah pui?
* I admit there being slight discrepancies in the figures. The Singapore figures were complied in 2004 and released last year while the Malaysian ones are for 2005/06. Singapore also uses a larger age distribution (18-69 years) than Malaysia (25-69 years) so the Singaporean mean would be lower, taking into account the typically healthier and more vigorous individuals in their late teens/early twenties. (This group contains almost all of Singapore's NSFs, for instance.) Still, the difference is still significant enough to confirm that yes, compared to us Malaysians are quivering masses of unwholesome flab. Perhaps those stories of Malaysian regulars being on the chubby side are more than just snide remarks.
Both Malaysian and Singaporean figures are made using the World Health Organisation's definition of overweight (BMI >25kg/m2) and obese (BMI >30kg/m2), without downward adjustment to cut offs taking into account Asian physiology. (Overweight >23kg/m2, Obese> 27.5kg/m2.) Using the revised index, figures for Singapore would be 35% overweight and 14% obese. Although I do not have revised figures for Malaysia, NCD Surveillance (which compiles the data for health risks in Malaysia) uses the WHO definitions. Hence, even revised, Malaysian statistics would still dwarf ours in a greasy torrent of adipose tissue. 
