ONE MOMENT IN TIME MEANS A LOT

By Wan A. Hulaimi | elsewhere@columnist.com Wan A. Hulaimi is based in the UK

In Asia, we too see time as precious, but we make different waves with it. AFP pic

UNPUNCTUAL management?

MALAYSIANS:

Why

are

we

so

lackadaisical

about

time

YESTERDAY, a friend spent three hours waiting for a Malaysian in a cafe. It was a busy Saturday afternoon, so there was much to engage his attention: the bustle of this uniquely placed eaterie in a busy street market, the coming and going of people in a part of London that is Bohemian with immigrant colour, and the hospitality of the cafe owner, a Malaysian lady who had arranged the meeting for him in the first place. Without all that he would have been bored out of his mind. I was at a loose end that Saturday of the incessant rain, so I stayed and chatted as we sipped tea. The meeting had been arranged for 2 o'clock, but the first telephone call made to the would-be client of my friend brought the response that she was doing some shopping. Then, another hour passed, and she was "on her way", and then, with the clock ticking even further, I had to leave to do an errand but later, as I was going away from the market, I took a peek into the cafe and saw my friend in animated conversation with his late-arriving client. It was almost 5 o'clock. How time is perceived in different cultures is important in this multi-cultural world. Last week in London, there were two events organised by Malaysians in two different hotels, both involving the attendance of VIPs. None of them started on time.

Film programmes start on time, trains run mostly on time, doctor's appointments and dentists rely on time to fulfil their clients' needs, but Malaysians never do. Why is that so? Why are we so lackadaisical about time? A person I have worked with in cross-cultural interfacing, Richard D. Lewis, a man of remarkable perception and insight into the ways of people of the world think that we in Asia are holders to the cyclical view of time. I can understand that, coming from the east coast of Malaysia, but I can't understand that in terms of the slight that you give to the people who are waiting for you to arrive. We have the sun that comes out everyday at almost the same time and dips into the horizon yonder at almost the same hour too, every day. So, our days are predictable, and time moves cyclically, from here to there and then again tomorrow from here to there, forever. We see this, says Lewis, not just in terms of our own time, but it stretches on to our children's hours. What's lost today will come again, and what's lost to us will be seen again by our children. I'll accept that, tomorrow the sun rises, tomorrow the corns can be gathered, tomorrow we can meet again. In many ways, we are also multi-taskers, much like Italians or Spaniards. No day is done until we have done as much as we can do. Oh, the mobile phone is a useful tool for that. "Please do wait for me, I'm running a bit late." It is annoying but so useful nevertheless. The mobile phone has become a gadget of use and abuse. It is as if, by being in touch, your sins are absolved. I am concerned and am in favour of the American linear perception of time -- but not so rabidly so -- because of the slight that being late gives to the person who stands and waits. We can do as much multitasking as we want to, and arrive late with the excuse "Oh, I'm sorry I had to collect my suit from the cleaners on the way." It just isn't good enough because it does not compensate for the waiting person's loss of his own hour, the annoyance of waiting, and the slight to him. It is action in America and reflection in Asia, as Lewis says in his book When Cultures Collide. We are meditators in the East, we take time to make decisions, not in the spur of the moment way of Americans or most Western Europeans, the Swiss and the Germans in particular, for time time is precious and events must happen be on the dot. At the next beep, it will be 12 o'clock. In Asia, we too see time as precious, but we make different waves with it. In Japan, time is money, factories work fastly and furiously, but there is still time to look at the bottom of a porcelain ware and admire its feel, and drink tea that's made with full ceremony. They segment time, which, for them, is unfolding. There's a time for love and a time for war...

In China, time is also regarded as precious, taking someone else's time is done with apologies. But they still would like to take their own time to arrive at conclusions, sometimes coming back after the meeting is over, to reconsider. The world is divided between planners and harmonisers. Linear time-keepers work as if they control time, as if they make the future, says Lewis. In the East, time is cyclical and beyond our control. We are influenced more by the past than the present and now. New Sunday Times, 15 September 2013
http://www.nst.com.my/opinion/columnist/one-moment-in-time-means-a-lot-1.356119#ixzz2jH5BWnpi

A MOMENT IN TIME: Malaysians like to waste people's time

By Aliah Athirah Mazli, Kuantan, Pahang

I READ with interest "One moment in time means a lot" (NST, Sept 15). Time is valued in many ways in each country. Each culture sees time as something precious, but the way it is used and implemented is not the same. The concern by the writer shows how Malaysians are not aware that the culture practised here on valuing time is referred to as "wasting" or "stealing" other people's time for those from another culture. This scenario depicts the bad side of our culture. Most Malaysians practise individualism rather than collectivism. Malaysians are more concerned about their own time rather than adjusting theirs with other people's, regardless of the occasion. Malaysians are still left behind in terms of time, compared with those from other countries. Their use of time can be regarded as polychromic, rather than mono-chromic. This can lead to serious problems in the future, such as other people being wary of Malaysians, which will cast a negative image of the country. Discussions should be held with the help of the media, and solutions come up with. New Straits Times, 31 October 2013