Who ever said we were?!
Malaysians has never been ever more rude than they are today. What a disgrace to our country. Kuala Lumpur is ranked the 3rd least courteous and most rude big city in the world out of 35 surveyed cities by Reader’s Digest. This should give a big slap to those that don’t mind their manners at all when they’re around others.
Below is a list of the cities surveyed starting from the most courteous to the worst.
- New York, USA
- Zurich, Switzerland
- Toronto, Canada
- Berlin, Germany
- Sao Paulo, Brazil
- Zagreb, Croatia
- Auckland, New Zealand
- Warsaw, Poland
- Mexico City, Mexico
- Stockholm, Sweden
- Budapest, Hungary
- Madrid, Spain
- Prague, Czech Republic
- Vienna, Austria
- Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Johannesburg, South Africa
- Lisbon, Portugal
- London, United Kingdom
- Paris, France
- Armsterdam, Netherlands
- Helsinki, Finland
- Manila, Philippines
- Milan, Italy
- Sydney, Australia
- Bangkok, Thailand
- Hong Kong, China
- Ljubljana, Slovenia
- Jakarta, Indonesia
- Taipei, Taiwan
- Moscow, Russia
- Singapore City, Singapore
- Seoul, South Korea
- KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA
- Bucharest, Romania
- Mumbai, India
3rd least courteous city out of the list. How more embarrassing can this get. This survey has finally proven the rumour that New Yorkers are very polite indeed.
Back to the topic. Kuala Lumpur, indeed it deserves that spot at the bottom of the list. People in this city and it’s surrounding towns are all the same. They don’t say “thank you”, “please”, not even a “you’re welcome”. You can go find these words the whole day and chances are that you won’t find a single person to utter those words out. Well, let’s say that 80% of the city has problems speaking properly, so at least they could smile in return. None. Not a microscopic trace of it.
Besides that, if someone drops something and didn’t realize he/she dropped it, no one will even bother to tell the person or even help the person pick it up and return it. They’ll most probably take it and run away if that thing has monetary worth. If someone dropped a whole stack of papers on the floor, everyone will just stare at the person thinking how clumsy and careless he/she was and not even the slightest thought passes their mind to go there and help that person pick up the papers.
There’s a person which I unfortunately got to know, is a classic example. He/she shall not be named here for privacy reasons (although I seriously would like to insert this person’s name here). I shall call this person A and use the word he to describe this person although he may or may not represent the person’s gender.
This person A has one of the worst manners I’ve ever seen since like ever. He never calls a person through the person’s name. In fact, he NEVER remembers that person’s name although he knew you for months already. He calls you, “eh”, “ey”, “oi” and makes funny swishing noises to attract your attention. Never once he calls your name. If you force him to call your name, he’s most probably call you a name totally world’s apart or a name similar like yours but sounds like a vulgar word.
Rule #1: Always call a person by his name whether it is his first name or last name, depending on your relationship with the addressee. Always address the person by his/her name if you know that person’s name, if you don’t a short Sir or Ma’am or even Miss is accepted.
Next, everytime when you try to give A some help like advice for his own betterment, he never listens. Stubborn like an ass. Hardcore from the inside out. No matter how much you tell him to improve his own manners, he never bothers. I guess the saying “Some people never change” is very true especially in this case. The ironic thing is, when you want to help him, he won’t budge, when he needs your help, he makes it sound like an obligation instead of a request. On top of it, no sign of the word “please” at all. An example will be “Oi, help me!”. Who would want to help if a person talks to you like that?! By just rephrasing the sentence to “Hey, *person’s name*, I don’t suppose you could help me on this, please?” or to make it shorter, “Hey, *person’s name*, could you please help me?” Compare this the latter two sentences to the former sentence, which sentence you’d prefer to respond to?
Rule #2: Always insert the word please in the sentence if you want to request for something. Just this simple 6 letter word would make a whole world of difference and the other side would be happy to lend a hand.
After helping A out in whatever he “commanded”, he just disappears of into the distance. Not even a “thank you”. Even a smile was no where to be found. Right after your help, he just turns around and walks away as if nothing happened at all. Not a single sign of appreciation. And this never fails to happen after everytime A requests for help.
Rule #3: Always show your appreciation towards others that has lent a hand to help. A simple “thank you” would do the trick. To add more, a smile could be added to show even more gratitude. “When you smile, the world smiles back at you.”
Everytime when I seek help from A, the only help you will get is a string of demoralizing words from his mouth. For example, “Why are you so stupid?”, “Don’t waste my time”, “You very mafan (Cantonese for causing a burden) la”. These are just the tip of the iceberg. When you want to help him, he doesn’t budge. When he wants your help, you are obliged. When you need his help, you don’t get any help from him. I guess he has forgotten that the Barter system is still pretty much enforced in today’s world.
Rule #4: Whenever others seek help, always try your best to help him/her. If you are unable to help that person, sincerely apologize that you are unable to help. Never ever throw words at the person to morally degrade him, making him think how useless and a burden he is to others.
Whenever an accident happens, no matter how big or minute it is and it’s A’s fault, he’ll never apologize. No “sorry”, no apology at all. Instead he’ll starting dropping bombing from his mouth blaming it all on you although it’s pretty obvious that it’s his fault. After having his satisfaction of dropping all the bomb shells, he storms off and you’d be left there flabbergasted of what just happened. I also once witness when waiting for a friend at a shopping mall, my friend accidentally bumped into a girl pretty big sized and my poor friend which had quite a small frame had to bear all the force. Before he could apologize to her, she started swearing “Babi lah kau ni” (Malay for “you useless pig”. The word babi in Malay can be termed and ranked next to F-bomb of the English language). It’s seriously disappointing how rude Malaysian can be.
Rule #5: Always apologize first when you are involved in whatever kind of accident no matter how big or small it is. By just saying “sorry”, fights and rage can be prevented. If one always assume he/she is right, the situation no matter how small it is can turn really ugly.
So, just remember this 5 golden rules to better manners and courtesy. And another 3 universal words, “please”, “thank you” and “sorry” will turn the world into a much friendlier and hospitable place to be in. After all, we don’t have any choice but to live in this world…
