So Are Malaysians Rude?

Do you want to get a black eye? So Readers Digest did a casual survey and decided that Malaysia ranks among the bottom three.

Now before we lose any sleep about being rude, we should examine some of the business practices of Readers Digest to decide if they are really qualified to conduct such a survey.

Reader’s Digest could be a Jewish conspiracy to make Malaysia look bad. If you order a product from them on approval basis and then decide not to continue and even return the item, they will still send you reminders to pay up for something you have declined. Now that is being rude.

Back to the survey.
The main items were holding doors open, dropping papers on a busy street and cashiers saying “thank you.”

If you are Malaysian you will realise that the dice is loaded against us.

We have so much snatch theft and abductions that dropping papers can be viewed as a ploy to distract us while we get assaulted etc.

As for cashiers, they are so stressed out making sure they get the correct change, they forget the “thank you.” I suspect the companies never bother to train the staff when you have already parted with the money.

Let’s look at other rude areas.

1. Just read the papers and we are witnessing rude exchanges between the past and present leaders of the country.

2. Have you attended functions where the VIPs arrive more than fifteen minutes after the function is supposed to start?

3. Kongsi Raya gatherings may be a good social activity but have you noticed how people simply pile up their plates and leave lots of food uneaten?

4. Driving on Malaysian roads is another rude topic. Maybe we should blame past policies that encouraged car ownership for the congested roads that tend to create road monsters.

I suspect that our politicians with their race-based politics have caused Malaysians to become rude, as there is a feeling of “every man for himself.”

Before I end I would like to relate two incidents that occurred in the USA that indicate the level of “rudeness” there.

On my first visit to Los Angeles in 1995, I wanted to get to church on Sunday. Since I had no car, I decided to take the public transport. As I had no change I paid US$2.00 for the short ride to the church.
After the service, I took the bus again and the driver recognised me and he told me, “no charge.” Do you think that will happen in Malaysia?

When my wife and I visited New York in 2004, we took the subway and were returning home at about 10pm. The service there runs 24 hours but some sections get locked up after a certain time.
We found ourselves in a locked area and did not know how to make the proper connection. We asked a short elderly lady and she spoke with an Italian accent. She said, “come follow me” without any hesitation and led us to the correct area some 500 meters away.
She was really a wonderful human being.

One other area relating to the USA and Canada is the driving. They have this arrangement of 3-way and 4-way stop junctions. The basic rule is that each car that arrives at the junction crosses in turn; according to the drivers who arrives earliest. Do you think such a scheme will work for Malaysians?

Being rude is a function of how we have been brought up and the society we live in. Unfortunately many Malaysians believe that one has to be “rude” to survive.

Photo: Niagara River, after the Falls. Life is like the rushing waters.