I'm writing a short story for a collection that is to be published at the Singapore Writer's Festival next March(published at age 12! And at a national level, with media attention and everything! Woot!), and I need to know a technicality. My protagonist is a New Yorker who's an expatriate in Singapore. He's riding on a train when a pregnant Malay woman asks him to give up his seat for her(this is common practice in Singapore). How does he react? And, in general, how do expats behave in Singapore? EDIT:Assume he has nothing against Malay people, pregnant people or women.
Giving up your seat for a pregnant person is common good manners in most places, including the US. He wouldn't be surprised, and unless he is particularly rude or has an injury himself he would almost certainly give up his seat - happily when I was in NY I saw people volunteering their seats to pregnant/old people without having to be asked (and I'd have done the same if I'd been sitting, of course!). I'm not sure exactly what you're looking for in your second question, but if it's any help I found Singapore to be mostly very familiar to me as a British person. The major shops and the bars in particular felt very European, and I felt quite at home Singapore is famous for having tough rules on behaviour in public (you'll know better than me if these are true) so an expat may be overly careful about their actions until they get used to what locals do and don't do.
Giving up your seat for pregnant women and old people is a round-the-world custom. So realistically, he'd probably oblige. However, you could make it interesting by making him an asshole and have him keep the seat thus forcing him to deal with the consequences of his selfishness. Just a suggestion, mind.
unless he's a total bounder, she wouldn't have to ask him... especially since he's a ny'r and would be used to giving up his seat to pregnant women, old folks and such on the subway or buses...
