by Edward Teoh

As Malaysians advance in society and culture, there comes a time when the after-effect of this phenomenon hits us. Over-politeness ...

WHEN I WAS TAKING a bus in a major city in Malaysia, I was quite happy to see that a teenager was willing to give his seat up for someone older than he was, even though he could sit with his girlfriend (which I presume this was his reason to act this way so that he can �show� his girlfriend what a nice guy he is and how morally educated he is). The man to whom the teenager offered the seat refused to sit down, which I think is because of the current trend where elderly people refuse to believe that they are old. Instead he offered the seat to another person. Hello?! People are generous enough to give you the seat. Sit down for heaven�s sake. It will be a long way before the next stop, and with the jam and everything, it will be at least another hour before you will reach your destination. But, no�� he has to prove that he has character and he is still strong, and not let the younger generation build their character and identity. What is it with this over-politeness? What has become of our society, where when we offer something, people will be more than happy to accept it? Has modernization really taken such a toll on our society and culture?

      Anyway, back to the scenario. Do you think anyone feel right taking a seat away from an old man? As a result, the other person whom was standing nearby declined the offer for the seat as well. And this went on for another fifteen minutes or so, before everyone who was involved got tired and decided that no one will take the seat. What happened to the good old days when people would actually fight, scream and plot to get a seat on a bus? Will our next generation of bus be filled with empty seats and people standing instead? And then, it kept me wondering. What if someone comes up the bus and sees an empty seat in a sardine-packed bus? That person would most probably think that there was something wrong with that seat. Maybe someone vomited on it or maybe spilled curry on it, so everyone refuses to sit on it. And if someone asked him to sit down, he might think that somehow everyone in the bus came to an agreement and were out to get him. Or maybe �Candid Camera� had finally landed in Malaysia, and it is one of their pranks, so that he can be humiliated on national TV. If that person is superstitious, then he will think of all kinds of probabilities. He might come up with the conclusion that someone died in that bus on that particular seat, and someway, somehow, he is the only person on that bus who didn't know that. Not only will he be standing, when he gets off he will memorize the bus number plate and vow never to set foot in that bus again. He will then tell everyone he knows that that particular is haunted. As the rumour spreads like wildfire, a few months later you will see at the bus stop that anyone and everyone will not get on the that particular bus, but instead try to squeeze themselves into an already sardine-packed bus. The bus conductor might then think it was because there was something wrong with his clothes or maybe the way he looks and goes into dejection. This is if the bus company is lucky. Disregarding the fact that the rumour might evolve into something like the whole bus company is governed and owned by demons, and whoever that takes that bus will be cursed with bad luck for the next ten generations. By the end of the year the bus company will face bankruptcy without knowing why.

      Luckily an innocent primary school kid came in the bus, looked around, wondered why everyone was standing instead of sitting down and took the empty seat with no questions asked. I think deep down he must have been laughing at how silly the grownups were. But most importantly he saved a few hundred bus driver and conductor their jobs, and prevented a Malaysian culture of people prefering to stand and leaving all the seats empty in a bus. I think he should also be in the history textbooks, and given a reward by the bus company for saving the company.