Malaysia is a nation rich with many
things that we can be proud of. Amongst which are mottos and taglines
to reflect our pride as Malaysians and these ‘riches’ include “Malaysia,
Truly Asia”, “1Malaysia”, “Malaysia Boleh!”, "Rakyat DiUtamakan" and a whole lot more if we
have the patience to sift through our annals and especially our press
libraries. But it is in our daily routine that our quirky motto
outlives all hype and that would be our famed ‘sekejap saje’ motto.
Think
about it! There isn’t any other country that could outdo our lifestyle
of breaking all rules created for order and harmony under the pretext
that we’re committing the deed for a short while only. We are all
guilty of double (and triple) parking in desperation to make a deposit
at the ATM, buy a loaf of bread at the sundry store, dropping off a
child at school or taking a teh tarik break at the mamak.
We are guilty of staying in way after check-out hours in hotels, be 15
minutes late to a spa appointment, take extra time with the doctors
because we have ample questions laced with personal stories to share,
keep a loaned library book an extra semester, sit at a café to do work
but not place an order while other patrons have nowhere to sit and the list goes on and on and on. After
all, everybody does it one time or another, so EVERYBODY should
understand. ‘Sekejap saje’, what?
There are the ‘bakhil’
parkers who would roam neigborhood lanes and backyards to illegally
park and block resident driveways to avoid RM2 per hour parking fee in malls so
they could grab a sekejap saje latte break with friends. We’ve
also witness shoppers walk away with their grocery shopping cart to abandon it haphazardly at car parks. After all, sekejap lagi the
‘expatriates’ from Bangladesh and Nepal working at the stores will
track down their missing carts while other shoppers wait in agony at the
mart quite incapable of starting their shopping due to the MIA carts.
 |
| An errant cart at a car park |
And then there’s the good friend who would jump queue and ‘tumpang’ an order because getting in line is not an option. Only one more order…can what? Sekejap saje.
So,
what is the outcome of such behavior should a behavioral scientist care
to conduct a short survey? Maybe our unique motto could warrant a
qualitative study about ‘the Malaysian daily insights to accepted
behavior,’ good enough for an international conference presentation. It
is very Malaysian and I trust it does not happen in isolation. As a
matter of fact, it could proof that when push comes to shove, Malaysians
can be quite a tolerant lot for their fellow Malaysians for being the
product of Malaysia. It’s simply amazing how casual Malaysians do what
they do, breaking rules and not bothered to run like hell! It is indeed
Uniquely Malaysian.
I suppose we can no add “sekejap saje, what?” to Malaysia's motto that Malaysians to be proud of...or not. I leave it up to you to decide.
