The Introverts

My friend told me that studies (I don't know which though since he also couldn't remember which so take it with a grain of salt) have shown that Asian professionals always prioritize rapport building process before they proceed with doing their works while professionals from some European countries prefer to focus on the works first and then turn to acquaintanceship.

It's nothing to brag about, I assure you, but I believe I'm like the second one. I said that it's not something to brag about because obviously being like that in a place where being sociable at first contact is like mandatory in Malaysian professional world kind of backfires.

When I was contacted by the School about the car that we used to drive to Kuala Lumpur last week about a crack at the windshield screen in front, I was asked what happened. I assured the person that it wasn't my fault or any other patrons in the car. Then, she insisted that it's not like that and suddenly the words "come down to the office" and "insurance" came in the same sentence and I panicked. Why would I do or pay or handle something that involved insurance when it's not my fault?

So, my friends would normally do what many Malaysians do, charm their way out of it. By "charm", I mean to show your friendliness, show that you're on the person's side and to invite the person to be on your side. But I couldn't do that, I was focused on proving and arguing that I was not at fault and at the end, the person sounded intimidated. The person kept saying, "Please come down to the office," and I kept responding, "It's not my fault." with a rather persistent and sure voice.

It kinda made me feel bad because the person did try to be polite, although the person's insistence that it was my fault was a bit too much. Now, I'm grateful that the issue blew over.

What would you do if you were in my position? Would you build rapport with the person and try to be friendly your way out? Or would you turn to a "lawyer" persona and defend the hell out of yourself? I guess every attribute has its own pros and cons but maybe the context plays a role too. And this is where I'm having problems in.

Elected

The Malaysian 13th General Election has come and gone. There is a clear detestation of a large fraction of Malaysian people who were hoping and actually expecting changes to happen in the ruling turn. There is also the group, the Government supporters obviously, who hailed in victory.

The one thing I don't understand about Malaysia is this: I believe that Malaysia is such an increasingly modernized country and Malaysians are now more educated and global. They travel more and have larger and broader outlooks. So, why, oh why, racial issues are still played by certain figures who think this is the card to deal with post-election?

"Chinese Tsunami"??

As in, only Chinese Malaysians that contributed to the election being the one with the most drastic outcomes? Then, how come non-Chinese contestants who contested in Chinese-heavy areas still won? Right now, the races are no longer an issue. I don't think there exists Malaysians who only have friends of their own race. Even my father who is a villager and doesn't travel much (in fact, he hates traveling)  has Chinese and Indian colleagues. We are now with each other and live with each other. We have learnt to be with each other and we are progressing. To use the race card is just setting your mindset backward, not forward. So, the correct issue is "Malaysians vs. certain parties" not "Chinese vs. Malays" and vice versa.

I tried so hard to be one of those bloggers with neutral entries when it comes to politics, but the level of ridiculousness of this issue is just so high it's hard for me to ignore. I HAVE to raise this criticism because I don't want Malaysians to have an outdated mentality but to focus on issues that are actually relevant to our modern societies.