In fact, KL is third from the bottom in a list of 36 cities in the world, according to a survey by New York-based magazine Reader's Digest. We beat Mumbai (right at the bottom) and Bucharest.
The most courteous is New York, followed by Zurich and Toronto.
The magazine said it was not a scientific survey. Researchers were sent to the cities where they tested people on 3 things:
• whether people in front of them would hold the door open for them as they walked into public buildings 20 times.
• whether sales assistants said thank you after they'd bought small items from 20 stor.
• whether anyone would help pick up papers they'd dropped from a folder in 20 busy locations.
Are the findings fair? Some people may think not. I mean you may not say New York and courteousness in the same breath. Then again, we're being too presumptuous. People are courteous in New York. They are not rude. they do have the time to hold the door for you, help you with all the papers that you've dropped on the street, and say thank you.
No need to really wonder. The first thing you'd notice when you land on American soil is their greetings of "how're you doing?" and "have a nice day". Yes, even after 9/11. It's ingrained in them.
Never mind whether they mean it or not, or sincere about it. As long as they're not rude.
I don't know whether I'd use the same criteria to gauge rudeness or courteousness.
If you read the conclusion of the study, you'll see that the more prosperous the city, the more courteous the people.
I have my own conclusion of Kuala Lumpur's ranking. The Reader's Digest researchers did not bump into people true KLites.
Could it be because of THIS?
Each time when I come across a data-oriented research, I need to know the type of statistical analysis employed in this research for clarity.
ReplyDeleteNevertheless, based on my experience, it is more than obvious that most people in Malaysia (I’ve met so far) don’t say ‘how are you?’, don’t say ‘thank you’, don’t say ‘please’, don’t have the time to hold the door…
I’ve lived in Northern Scotland for years… As a former PhD student in Scotland, as far as I can remember, while I was walking to Uni early in the morning, some makcik/pakcik Scottish always greeted me with… ‘Good morning, love’…’Good morning, darling’… the local people there always said ‘how are you?’, ‘thank you/cheers’, ‘…please’ and definitely had the time to hold the door….it was very lovely.
So bila I balik Malaysia, dah lulus PhD… I feel…ah! Sometimes I senyum, senyuman I di balas dengan muka cuka...Is it always cold winter in Malaysia, eh??
Anyway, kudos to New York, Zurich, Toronto (and the likes) and of course, Scotland too :-)
thinks the survey does have its point. Msians in general aren't that courteous, especially behind the counters- from bankers to the salesgirls (mostly), they're generally 'berat mulut' to utter a simple thank yous.
ReplyDeleteand the once gracious malay has become a lout...the chinese never lost their boorish ways....and the indians copy the behaviour of the bad guys in tamil movies and their leaders...so how not to be rude and it is not because of any others....
ReplyDeleteI agree wth the survey. The 3critirea in the survey is perfect which i dont ve to repeat here. In general memang msian are rude especially on the road driving...fikir2lah sendiri!
ReplyDeleteAnon 12:35
ReplyDeleteNow say something about the rude ones. There ARE rude ones. I've been there.
Nuraina,times have changed,people have changed.I spend my childhood growing up in Penang.My family moved to the mainland for economic reasons in the seventies.
ReplyDeleteHaving worked and stayed there,I have come to know many people in the kampongs and new villages.In fact many of the workers came from the surrounding kampongs and new villages.
You get invited to weddings of collegues relatives too.One has to set aside a small budget for such expenses.Even in time of grief,half the people coming to one's homes to pay respects are strangers.These practices still exists in the suburbs.
But in the cities forget about it.Even neighbours do not know nothing about their neighbours.So what do people expect from strangers.A handshake or a hug?
I have experienced western courtesy and have the same observation as anon 12:35am.I even have strangers walking up to say how cute my dog is and playing with him.
well, dont talk to strangers...where did this phrase originated.
ReplyDeleteEvery race have their etiquette and not one shows the negative sides.
In Malaysian society we do care and respect each other in a special way where no other countries does. As saying Rude to Malaysians...Well, I've seen and encountered more negative manners of others.....
Datuk.
ReplyDeleteYou must be a very busy person. You take ages to update your blog. BUT this is one blog I follow EVERYDAY.
SELAMAT HARI RAYA.
anon@7:08PM:
ReplyDeleteOh dear. i must apologize for taking so long to update my blog. actually i've written 4 entries - on tanda putera, road crimes and why i think some malaysian drivers deserve to die on the road and on ramadan BUT, they're all half-way doneand somehow i couldn't complete them.. sometimes things come up and so on. no excuse, i know.. but thanks for following my blog.