Malaysia, a nation with no shame?
Haris Hussain
Sat, 3 February 2024 at 8:22 am SGT·4-min read
"Malaysia, a nation with no shame?"
As a nation, we have no shame.
We are a nation that celebrates convicted criminals, turning them into cause célèbres.
We are a nation where convicted felons get five-star preferential treatment, and are invited to speak at business forums after being charged with criminal breach of trust, abuse of power, and money laundering.
We are a nation where politicians facing a mountain of charges can still hold office, are escorted by police outriders – not to prison – but to attend state functions and to shamelessly welcome visiting heads of state.
We are a nation that shamelessly expects, and doles out handouts, creating a culture of unfettered entitlement that spans every facet of Malaysian life – from business, to education, to illegal street racing.
We are a nation that rewards bad behaviour, and embraces slogans extolling the virtues of shamelessness. We celebrate thieves and thievery. One slogan that for a while became the national mantra of sorts loosely translated to “What Is There To Be Ashamed of, My Dear Boss?”
We are a nation that rewards mediocrity. We excel at coming up with excuses, justifying the unjustifiable, sugar-coating the harsh realities of the outcome (football, hockey, badminton, take your pick), and propping up the losers with hollow “Attaboys” and “
Kita sudah buat yang terbaik demi bangsa dan negara”.
It doesn’t detract from the fact that we can’t seem to do anything right.
Malaysia’s disastrous outings in both the men’s and women’s Olympic hockey qualifiers recently were hard to stomach, but the results were not unexpected. Once a hockey powerhouse, Malaysia’s national teams have now been reduced to a shadow of their former self, instilling paralysing fear and abject terror only in an opponent’s girls’ Under-12 team.