By CC Pung
Dose of philosophical musings.
The writer is a Sabah Justice of Peace and Tokoh Wartawan Sabah and Labuan.
I was settling into my Toshiba. Then I looked up.
Lo and behold, this stared right back at me and, suddenly, the today has a revolting ‘flavour’ I didn’t know it has.
Many of my fellow Malaysians like to think and proclaim that ours is a modern society.
I may not be a fiery believer and it is precisely this sort of lack of decency that makes me ponder.
He is a customer at this place and he has certain rights a a paying patron.
A decent person will display some empathy and consider the rights of other customers, such as me sitting nearby and other customers coming in maybe later.
What makes this kind of Malaysian?
This is done in the open and perhaps explains Malaysia’s infamous dirty public toilets.
Toilet users do their business privately.
They think visiting the bathroom is ‘shit’ business and therefore cleanliness or thinking of the next user is a non issue.
I remember when China first opened to visitors and some people I knew came back with horror stories about China’s odorless, hole-in-the-ground toilets.
They joked about why an umbrella is a must-have to keep your privacy, and your sanity, when using a typical doorless toilet widespread in even urban China those years ago.
Today, with or without robots’ help, dirty and door less toilets are a thing of the past.
Unfortunately in Malaysia which, though always having doors at public toilets, has barely been able to get its act together.
I have a nagging feeling that it is this kind of countrymen that are holding us back.
Editor: The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of Talantang.
