DID you read that one on a ministry rejecting a green campaign proposal by a company because “they were rude”?

It certainly caught my eye; it makes for an intriguing read.

Despite my age-induced at-times flailing memory, I still can’t recall an instance when rudeness was ever used as an official reason for turning down a business proposal.

Well, at least, it was never candidly revealed on-the-record to the media for the obvious reason that it smacks of shallowness.

Let me take through the debate first, as exclusively reported by news portal, Malaysian Digest.

A local management company, CreatiVision Sdn Bhd, was involved in 10 months of discussions with the Energy, Green Technology and Water Ministry to bid for ministry’s Karnival 1Hijau 1Komuniti 2012 event held in Miri, Sarawak, recently.

CreatiVision’s managing director, Adelyn Lim, claimed that not only did the company fail to get the project, the ministry had also allegedly “hijacked” its ideas despite not engaging its services.

The ministry’s administrative and finance division undersecretary, Wong Ting Song, rebutted Lim’s claims, saying that the company’s proposal was not unique and that the ministry had conducted similar events.

While Wong did not elaborate on why the ministry was engaged in 10 months of discussion if it had similar ideas with CreatiVision, he went on record to say that the company did not get the project because they were “rude”.

“Yes, they were rude,” he said. “The company had requested that an official letter be sent to them, to inform them that we would not be taking on their project. We sent it to them on June 18, yet they still continued disturbing us. This, I found to be rude.”

Hold your horses. You call that rude?

Certainly, CreatiVision has every right to pursue its interests in manners conforming to procedures and ethics, among others.

In this case, it was merely seeking an official letter stating that the ministry did not want to engage it for the Sarawak project.

The company claimed it did not get the letter, despite the ministry’s claim that it had sent one out, and common sense dictates it is only natural that the company asked for one.

Wong could have saved the ministry a whole load of embarrassment by just sticking to CreatiVision’s proposal was not good enough.

To go on record saying that they did not get the project because CreatiVision was “rude” certainly raises eyebrows.

You can even imagine some people thinking how arrogant the ministry can be by blaming the company’s rudeness in rejecting the proposal.

And all because it wanted a letter?

Coincidentally, and interestingly enough, a Reader’s Digest survey placed Malaysia 34th among 36 countries for being the least courteous.

It upsets me that Malaysia ended up close to the bottom of that well.

It doesn’t augur well for us, even if I find it baffling that we were rated so badly since we are certainly not an overtly rude, inconsiderate and selfish nation.

Whatever our arguments are, perhaps we should take this negative and turn it into a positive.

Why don’t we start today by saying thank you to the chap who holds the door open for us or wave to drivers who stop to give way to you or signal when making a turn?

And, oh, try to smile a bit more, too.


Two hours before writing this piece, Yushaimi nearly collided into a car when the driver halted abruptly right in the middle of the road and started reversing after missing a left turn. The driver did not even signal an apology as other drivers honked as they maneuvered their vehicles around his reversing car.