"Kiasu" & poor upbringing are the main reasons for bad manners among Malaysians.

I refer to the recent letters about Malaysians who do not join the queue to board the airplanes and in particular the letter "Malaysian Manners? What's that?" by Mike Martin who said Malaysians would not hold a door open for the person behind you because of their "couldn't care less" mentality.

From my experience and observation, it is more than just the "couldn't care less" mentality. Many Malaysians are simply "Kiasu" (scared to lose in Hokkien) and worst of all, some have very poor upbringing!

A very good example of these disgusting "Kiasu" Malaysians is how they rush to get into a lift. As soon as the lift door is opened, and while the disembarking passengers are still coming out, they would push their way into the lift!

A more disgusting experience which I have encountered many times in my twilight years is when some upstart who without any hesitation, would treat a grey-hair old man as a poor doorman.

When you are at a two-way glass door to get out of a room, you would pull open the door towards you instead of pushing it open if you see someone is approaching it in the opposite direction.

Many a time while I was doing it, a man coming towards the door would hasten his pace and quickly get through it and pass me while I was still holding the door open! And he did it without even looking at me or saying a word!

These are but a few examples of bad manners amongst people with third-world mentality.

Note:

The above article was published in Malaysiakini on 05/06/06.