Saturday, December 26, 2009

Are We Friendly? Yes And No

A Kadir Jasin

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MALAYSIA is ranked 5th in the world as the friendliest country in a survey commissioned by HSBC Bank International.

The top spot went to Bahrain followed by Canada, Australia and Thailand.

Called the Expat Explorer Survey, it was conducted by the research company FreshMinds. More than 3,100 expatriates were surveyed between February and April 2009.

The respondents were asked to rate 23 factors related to their quality of life, including food, entertainment, transportation, health care, finances, education and their ability to make friends.

Other 10 countries in ranking order are South Africa, Hong Kong, Singapore, Spain and the USA.

Malaysia scored well in areas like making friends among expatriates, organizing schooling, finances, healthcare and place to live, but poorly in making local friends and joining local groups (we’re not all that friendly after all hah?)

19 comments:

dan kajang said...

Assalamualaikum Dato',

1. First of all we have to congratulate ourselves for being ranked 5th as Friendly people. We should not dispute that. After all the ranking is not done by the Malaysian and also not by our Ministry of Tourism. So, Congratulation to all.

2. But, for the Malays I suppose, to be rated as a "friendly people" is nothing to be proud of. We must remember that all the while the Malays have been a very friendly people. Since the year 1511 when the Portugese landed and invaded Malacca, followed by the Dutch in 1641 and then the British (the East Indian Co.), the Japanese in 1940 and then back to the British in 1945 until we became indpendent in 1957.

3. From the above events, we can see how the Malays have been very friendly and have been treating these "penjajah" well. History will tell everything.

4. Even to the extend of we giving the citizenship rights to our "pendatang" (Chinese and the Indian). In the end what do we get for being friendly. "Beri petih nak paha". They don't even not only appriciate our friendly gesture, but now they are demanding more rights. These people must now realise that the Malay "adalah manusia Penyabar". But their patience have a limit. When they are being presured to the corner, they will definately retailiate. And when such thing happen, nobody will gain. May 13 history have proven that.

4. So for the Malays, being ranked 5th as Friendly people is nothing be excited about.

Ravin P said...

Malaysians are friendly to expats but not so with other Malaysians. Inferiority complex??

al-Balingi said...

Yes! Well Done

Anonymous said...

No la...sifat org malaysia memberi layanan kepada foreigner especially mat salleh mcm "tuan". Tapi sesama kite...layanan for the same service mcm shit.
-Pembeli Malaysia-

Ah Long said...

Dato',

Dulu saya sangat respect Dato'. Tapi nampaknya Dato' pandai main kata-kata, tapi tak berani nak bagi KPI kat Najib pun.

Asyik putar sana putar sini, takut ka Dato' dekat Najib?

Terlajak perahu boleh tarik....

Roti Planta said...

Dato',
Yeap we are friendly to the foreigner but racist between us (Malaysian). From my experience, friendly for the Malay is difference meaning and objective from friendly for the others. We are truly friendly but they are 'baik ada makna tu...' (petikan madu tiga)

Bye/Roti Planta

PARPUKARI said...

That is my point exactly Dato, why are we not friendly among us? Hmmm

ORANGUTAN PENANG said...

Tok Kadiaq

Well said saudara/saudari dan kajang.

As for me,lately i have no mood to be friendly to these pendatang who don't appreciate our kindness.

In fact i want to be hostile.I want them to taste what's it like living in apartheid regime.

To maniam,ah guan,bruce and melisa(cute and adorable) who subscibe to my values,all of you are most welcome to stay and share what little we have and i will be there for you guys any time any place.

To those who keep on complaining,they better get lost or i will make them feel that living in TANAH MELAYU is no less than HELL.

I COULD'NT CARE LESS IF WE ARE NO 1,5 OR EVEN ZERO.

Anonymous said...

ah long...
rasenya AKJ dah start bagi KPI Najib secara indirect.cuba baca entry sebelum ini.AKJ,ada satu persoalan..bangsa Melayu memang tiada harapan ke selepas kepimpinan Dr. M?

-m fadhil yahya

MANTOL said...

Simple answer actually. This is the results of being too nice to the immigrants.

Hence, from kindergaten to high school, the Chinese and Indian parents choose to send their kids to Chinese and Tamil schools. Their reason: to make sure their kids learn the "mother language and culture".

The Chinese will never approach or mixed with other Malaysian unless they (Chinese) need something from us.

YES. THE CHINESE AND INDIAN ARE RACIST!! Right from the day of independence.

Dari kecil kaum Cina dan India sudah mengasingkan diri dari rakyat Malaysia yang lain.

Kononnya sekolah Cina lebih bagus. Kononnya anak2 Cina lebih bijak dan tidak boleh bersekolah sama dengan anak Malaysia lain yang lembab dan bodoh.

Kaum India lebih bangga cakap tamil (dan ntah apa2 bahasa lagi). Lebih bangga dengan negara India dari Malaysia. Malaysia sekadar tempat cari duit. Dapat duit hantar India. Cari bini pun di India.

Pemerintah UMNO pula takutkan bayang2. Begitu mudah memutar-belitkan perkataan sehingga bertolak-ansur dengan memberikan kerakyatan dan menjadikan kaum pendatang wakil rakyat walaupun di kawasan orang Melayu. Kalau kawasan Cina, Melayu nak jadi Pengerusi BN pun tidak boleh!

Melayu yang hilang sedara mara dan menderita semasa menentang komunis disuruh buka ladang sendiri dipanggil felda. Tiada sekolah, tiada air dan elektrik pun masa tu.

Peliknya bekas2 komunis dan Cina diberi rumah di kg kg baru yang mempunyai pelbagai kemudahan dan kemudiannya ceroboh dan dapat geran tanah ratusan. Rumah mereka ini dekat dgn sekolah.

I can go on and on but of course the younger generation dont give a damn coz all they know is we get our independence the easy way.

/MANTOL/

pakbelalang said...

Well said, dan kajang.

Generally, the Malays are very gentle and tolerant race. That is why some people thought they could be bullied easily and take advantage of this attribute as being a weak race. They are indeed totally dead wrong.They are ignorant of the fact that the Malays could retaliate once they are push to the corner and will react irrational by running run amok.

That is why the Malay word "AMOK" is accepted as an English word in the Oxford Dictionary to reflect the real character of the Malay race.

The Wikapedia defines AMOK as follow:

"Amok" is derived from the Malay/Indonesian/Filipino word amuk, meaning "mad with rage" (uncontrollable rage). The verb form is mengamuk.

The word was in use in India during the British Empire, originally to describe an elephant gone mad, separated from its herd, running wild and causing devastation. The word was made popular by the colonial tales of Rudyard Kipling.

Although commonly used in a colloquial and less-violent sense, the phrase is particularly associated with a specific sociopathic culture-bound syndrome in Malaysian culture. In a typical case of running amok, a male who has shown no previous sign of anger or any inclination to violence will acquire a weapon and, in a sudden frenzy, will attempt to kill or seriously injure anyone he encounters. Amok episodes of this kind normally end with the attacker being killed by bystanders, or committing suicide.


Causes
Many explanations for amok have been offered by observers, including suggestions that it is a physical consequence of alcoholism, drug addiction, heat or internal parasites. Nineteenth and early twentieth century investigators were unable, however, to find any real evidence to support these speculations. Psychological explanations include the suggestion that amok is a sudden explosion of internal tension created by life in a highly hierarchical society; Malay, Mindanaoan and Javanese traditional societies are said to have been extremely hierarchical, with an emphasis on deference to rulers. It is doubtful, however, whether these societies are unusually hierarchical in a global context.

The explanation which is now most widely accepted is that amok is closely related to male honor (amok by women is virtually unknown). In many cases where the background of the amok-runner is known, there seems to have been some element of deep shame which prevented the man from living honorably, as he saw it, in his own society. Running amok was both a way of escaping the world (since perpetrators were normally killed) and re-establishing one's reputation as a man to be feared and respected. Some observers have related this explanation to Islam's ban on suicide, which, it is suggested, drove Malay men to create circumstances in which others would kill them. Evidence for this explanation is that the incidence of amok seems to be less where amok runners are captured and tried, rather than being beaten to death on the spot.

zainal abidin awang kechik said...

''saya lihat orang malaysia sesama kita agak longar nilai persahabatan"

Dato Najib nampak slow dari buat keputusan penting
63/66..itu bukti Wakil Rakyat tunjuk sabo inderect,tok
masalah Malaysia ni Tukar PM macam Tukar tayar kereta..
for me Najib perlu berani,
"JANGAN MENIDAKAN BAKI KUASA YANG MASIH ADA..BERI JAWATAN PADA MEREKA YANG DI PILIH UMNO"

salam

affendi hussain said...

HYPOCRITE is the word Dato'..when default mind set does not resonans with the truth/reality..

It blended so well in the cream of Malaysian society..from the top to the root..(leader to rakyat)..

We're so used with "menyusukan kera di hutan"..its our trademark.. guess where do we learn it from?

KERAJAAN! I can provide a few examples if you want..

p/s:Hmm.."friendly" almost at "par" with Thailand? With the underworld business booming and together with our high reputation in "human traficking" we are probably in the way to #1! Malaysia is indeed a "one stop centre" of "truly asian". Macam2 ada..

("/)

raja2u said...

YBhg Dato'

Assalamualaikum,

Nampaknya penilaian orang tua kita dahulu "Kera di hutan disusukan anak dipangkuan mati kelaparan" masih relevan pada masakini.

Raja Abdul Rahman bin Raja Mohammad Dain
Petaling Jaya

Anonymous said...

Dato'
Bercakap pasai nasib Melayu ni, saya rasa, sekarang ni susah nak cari pemimpin macam Tun Razak dan Datuk Harun Idris.

Kesian Datuk Harun, Balai Datuk Harun di Jalan Tun Razak yang menjadi lambang perjuangan orang Melayu di bandar, habih depa peranap. Walaupun ada orang tak berapa suka kat Allahyarham, tapi masih ramai orang Melayu, khususnya orang lama, yang menghargai jasa baik Datuk Harun.

Balanglama

Anonymous said...

assalamualaikum

secebis dari detik (indonesia)...

Sopir Taksi Malaysia Lebih Buruk daripada Toilet Kotor

http://www.detiknews.com/read/2009/12/09/154253/1257170/10/sopir-taksi-malaysia-lebih-buruk-daripada-toilet-kotor

hehehe..

selamat membaca...

-comeilotei-

Rasputin Beliong said...

Behind the wheels, we're downright rude and unfriendly. But with white-skinned people, even if thy're crooks, we kowtow. And the most detestable of all: our taxi drivers who unashamedly offer, unsolicited, their unending criticism of the government and the country regardless whether the passengers are local and foreign.

Anonymous said...

Orang kita dengan pelancong asing baik, sopan santun, dengan bangsa sendiri biadap(tak semua).
Realiti semasa, Melayu/Muslim di negara ini memang tak senang dengan kejayaan orang lain. Berdengki sesama sendiri saja kerjanya. Kalau orang tu maju dengan menebas Melayu lain patut la marah, yang maju cara elok pon kene jugak.
Kalau bukak kedai makan, guna bomoh,jin, dll. Sampai kedai orang lain nampak tutup di mata pelanggan. Santau menyantau sesama melayu. Hantu rempit melayu, yang kena ragut pun melayu.
Yang kena rogol, berzina, buang anak, melayu jugak.

Melayu juga telah dirosakkan dengan teruk sepanjang 52 tahun merdeka, terpesong dari haluan yang hakiki dan antara rekod yang dipegang melayu:
1.Penagih dadah teramai
2.Perempit
3.Masalah sosial, akhlak, dan akidah
4.Bartenter terbaik

Masih banyak Melayu yang OK, tapi lebih ramai melayu yang KO.

-peacetoall

affendi hussain said...

Dato'..
I find it quite shameful for a so-called "developing country" that our Literacy Rate
(Kadar Celik Huruf) is only 91.9% (86th).. below Mongolia? :P and our neighbours like Philipines, Indonesia & Thailand? and even the 1.3b populated China??

Translate that into figure means out of 27,730,000 Malaysian (est. Sept 2008), 8.1% or 2,246,130 cannot read & write?! Wow..This is alarming Pak-Pak Menteri..unless they take it as nothing serious..what next? blame Wikipedia for incorrect info?

Is that all we can achieved after 52yrs of independent? We seem to be stagnant thought the rest of our neighbour keep on progressing at a steady higher rate.

Our Supreme Leaders must be in their "syok sendiri" complacency mode..

Apa masalah sistem pendidikan Malaysia skrg ni..boleh Pak Menteri tolong huraikan?

Kolej2 swasta bercambah mcm cendawan tapi ramai lg tak boleh menguasai asas membaca & menulis? KPI asas Menteri Pendidikan ni..

Dlm hal ni saya setuju dgn Anwar Ibrahim.. Zimbabwe hanya selang satu anak tangga saja bawah kita..

Patutlah masih ramai orang yg tak reti bahasa kat Malaysia ni..

(",)

About Me

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I was born in 1947 in Kedah. I came from a rice farming family. I have been a journalist since 1969. I am the Editor-in-Chief of magazine publishing company, Berita Publishing Sdn Bhd. I was Group Editor NST Sdn Bhd and Group Editor-in-Chief of NSTP Bhd between 1988 and 2000. I write fortnightly column “Other Thots” in the Malaysian Business magazine, Kunta Kinte Original in Berita Harian and A Kadir Jasin Bercerita in Dewan Masyarakat. Books: Biar Putih Tulang (1998), Other Thots – Opinions & Observations 1992-2001 (2001), The Wings of an Eagle (2003), Mencari Dugalia Huso (2006), Damned That Thots (2006), Blogger (2006), PRU 2008-Rakyat Sahut Cabaran (2008), Komedi & Tragedi-Latest in Contemporary Malaysian Politics (2009) and Membangun Bangsa dengan Pena (2009).