Polite Malaysians or Rude Malaysians?

Type "World's Rudest Country" and you will see articles indicating Kuala Lumpur is the 3rd rudest city in the world. FORTUNATELY, Budapest is the world's number 2 while Bucharest is the worst.

Is it something to be proud of, being known as the world's 3rd rudest country? It may be an old article, but the fact that rude Malaysians are out there has been around longer than you can ever imagine.

Time and time again local newspapers were filled with reassuring quotes from Malaysians and foreigners saying how polite and courteous we all are. Yes, we are surprised with this surprise. "How can we be so rude?" you may ask.

There are signs everywhere to clearly show that Malaysians can be rude in the wider sense of the word. We are not only rude in the sense that we would get shouted at or reprimanded but in the sense that people may assume that we as Malaysians are uncivilised or uneducated.

Recognise the quote "1st world country with 3rd world mentality"? It describes us well sometimes.

The following actions below are some of the actions that probably contribute to that very shameful ranking:

1. Littering. Ah yessss! Remember those lessons taught by our teachers during Moral Education period, that we must throw our litters into the dust bin? Alas, that exist in theory. Although we would be fined if we were caught littering, law enforcement is poorly executed. (I have seen policemen throwing "Mamee" wrappers on the streets before)



2. M & M theory of driving. There are "Maniacs" who treat highways like a F1 race track, speeding at almost 200 km/h, endangering lives of people on the road and in the speeding car. There are also "Morons" that hog the road, driving slowly and making turns without switching on their signal lamps.



3. The 3 Ks'. Kiasu, Kiasi, Kialang. (Afraid to lose, afraid to die and intimidating - like a monster) We Malaysians often state that our friendly neighbour, the Singaporeans are perfect characters of the 3 Ks' but fail to see that we are masters in them.



• We are "kiasu" during any Mega Sales. Have you ever seen people pushing and elbow each other in the shopping mall just to reach the clothes they want? What about people who cuts into any queue that you are in?



• We are "kiasi" to the point where we do not want to admit our faults. I was at this certain buffet dinner where I saw a male with "kiasu" characteristics - He has his plate filled with the things served till the point where some of his meatballs rolled off. Sometime later, the host came across the meatballs and asked around who caused the unwanted mess. Mr. K announced "Eh? How did that happen arh? I think I saw some kid drop his meatball-lah!"



• We are "kialang" when we are behind the wheels. The potion that Dr Jekyll drank turns him into Mr. Hyde, while our cars and motors are instant recipes of road rage and destruction. We hold the world's 30th rank in the most road fatalities. If you were to anger anyone on the road, they will drive ahead of you and give you a nasty "what the @$#%@ is wrong with you" glance.



4. Staring. Malaysians LOOOOVVEEE staring. They love looking at you as though as you are an object without any remorse. I always observe males around when I do my shopping or just hanging out with Amanda (Yes, I do admit I tend to be protective around her)



• Guys love looking or more specifically, LEERING at girls. They tend to stare from the heads down and stop somewhere in the middle (If you are a guy, you know and if you are a girl, you know this better).



• Come on! Firstly, it is rude to stare and secondly, you are being an ass for not noticing that OTHER people knows that you are staring.

These are just a few traits of the rude and ugly side of Malaysia. I want to add that not all Malaysians are like this, some of them are really nice and good people to be with where they are willing and ready to lend a helping hand in whatever ails you have.

WAKE UP! We are very well into our 50th birthday as a country but if we do not change our attitude and manners, we will not go very far. Imagine potential investors who are interested in our country but eventually got turn off with our ill mannered ways