Things we read in the news and hear our politicians speak...
1) MAS and AirAsia should buck-up and avoid flight delays, as this would inconvenience the tourists.
2) A clean toilet went hand-in-hand with developing the tourism industry
3) The cabbies should do this and this and don't do that and that to portray a good image to the tourist.
4) We should extend the operating hours of night clubs in the city for the benefit of the tourist.
...and many more similar sentences in the past.
My BIG question, didn't we as a Malaysian deserves a reliable transportation system, a clean toilet, a safe country, a polite and smiling service provider?
Is it our culture to save the best for other people? Do you remember when your mom save the best cookies for guests during festive season and let you have the almost burnt or "not perfect" cookies; or when the best china, table cover and cutleries are only used when there is guest in the house; or when you are asked to pick up everything in the living room and dump it into your room when a guest wants to drop by on short notice?
I have always mumbled under my breath when I have to clean up because the guest is coming. Why be so pretentious? If messy is how you live, then messy it is to your guest. If the house is messy because there are little kids who can never keep their toys neat and at the designated place, I'm sure the guest would understand. As a sign of respect, at least make sure there is a decent place for the guest to sit and chat but to clear up and ensure everything is spick and span only when the guest is around is just hollow.
Coming back to the issue of our politician and their desire to make everything nice to the tourist, let's get into the real Merdeka spirit and free ourselves from the idea that we are here to serve the orang putih (though now we have tourist of many colors other than putih). Let's serve us the Malaysians who has to live in this country, grow up and make a living here. Let us have a good transportation system, let us have clean toilet for us, let us have a clean and safe country for us.
We acknowledge tourism is a big industry contributing to our economy but if we have a happy Malaysian living in Malaysia, the happy Malaysians can make the tourist happy too and ensure the continuation of income from tourism to the economy.
Sunflower gives the connotation of cheerfulness, bright, jolly, merry... you get the idea! However, if any content in this blog didn't fit the cheerfulness implied by its name, look at it this way... I'm putting down all the wretchedness, gloom, melancholy feeling in here so I can continue living up to the expectation of making the association to the sunflower.
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