Yesterday’s New Straits Times journalist Fauzlah Ismail wrote a report on the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s visit to Japan last week which should be compulsory reading and critical discussion by all Cabinet Ministers for their weekly meeting tomorrow to lift them out of their “half-past six” malaise.
Entitled “Broaden horizons during trips abroad, says Abdullah”, Fauzlah started with the observation: “Trips abroad, be it official or working visits, are not just about the fixed itinerary. It is about observing the culture of the countries visited and finding those that can be emulated back home.”
Fauzlah said that Abdullah used his fourth visit to Japan since taking office in 2003 to observe what the Japanese do best and what examples he could bring home for Malaysians to emulate.
Clearly what struck the Prime Minister most was the culture of maintenance in Japan, causing him to ask newsmen covering his five-day visit last week:
“Did you check their toilets? Did you notice how clean the city is?”
He was impressed with the Japanese culture of maintenance, especially of public buildings and places.
Fauzlah wrote:
“Indeed, the toilets, especially at the Narita International Airport where millions of local and foreign passengers go through, and the city were impeccably clean.”
Another part of Japanese culture which struck Abdullah was queuing. Fauzlah quoted the Prime Minister: “Do you see people or cars jumping queue? The queue may be long but they still wait their turn.”
There was a third thing about the Japanese which impressed Abdullah – when the Prime Minister was reminded of the Malaysian habit of passing the buck to others.
“This has to stop. The departments and agencies concerned must take responsibility. Whoever is responsible must know what he is responsible for and take action without being told to do so.”
Fauzlah posed a most pertinent question to the Prime Minister — why, after 50 years of bilateral relations, have Malaysians yet to learn all these from the Japanese — but Abdullah had no reply except to say: “That’s an interesting question” and to express the hope that the 14,000 Malaysians who stayed in Japan for training and studies under the Look East Policy would go home and continue with what they learnt in Japan.
Why must Fauzlah’s article be compulsory reading and be the subject of critical discussion at tomorrow’s Cabinet meeting?
Very simple — Fauzlah has inadvertently zoomed in on the critical flaws of leadership and governance in Malaysia in the past 50 years.
The lack of the culture of maintenance is too painfully self-evident from the almost daily reminder of government building or public construction defects, whether falling ceilings, cracked walls, burst water and sewerage pipes, air-con and power breakdowns, and now horror of horrors, the revelation that government buildings like the troubled-starred world’s second largest court complex in Jalan Duta, Kuala Lumpur does not have and does not need CFs!
The Prime Minister has been talking about a culture of excellence and towering Malaysians, but 50 years of the national education system have failed to impart to Malaysians the most basic toilet training to the extent that Abdullah has to look with envy at the Japanese toilet system in all his four visits to Japan as Prime Minister.
There is no culture of responsibility, don’t mention the tradition of hara-kiri, for Ministers to boldly accept responsibility for failures or setbacks in their Ministries — vividly illustrated in the current season of man-made mishaps and disasters in the various Ministries.
Fauzlah rightly pointed out that Abdullah was the minister in charge of implementing the Look East Policy when it was introduced 25 years ago.
If after 25 years, Abdullah has failed to get Malaysians to emulate the Japanese qualities of the cultures of maintenance and responsibility, what hope is there that he would succeed now unless something extraordinary is to take place in the Cabinet tomorrow.
Is Abdullah prepared to do something extraordinary at the cabinet meeting tomorrow by asking all the Cabinet Ministers to collectively resign to give him a free hand to appoint a new Cabinet to end the national farce and charade of a half-past six Cabinet and administration?
hahaha … can’t help laughing and can’t stop either …
Does he even realize he is slapping himself in the face with the comments he made ?
Has he even went abroad before he became Prime Minister ?
Why does he act like a katak out of the tempurung ?
Is this our Prime Minister ???
*shake head*
MU case another laughing stock, who cares you are Mr PM, agreement means agreement! How can Mr PM override FIFA? We are now talking about global rules & regulation, not our leaders way of managing a kampung where the head says it all the rest just follows. Never go thru proper channel of discussions/meetings with relevant parties getting feedback prior to implementation.
So AAB going to teach half-past-six ministers how to take care of the parliament toilets tomorrow. Suppose he will teach them Japanese way of hara-kiri the next day. We fellow Malaysians we be benefited greatly then.
Looking forward for a brighter future!
Yes, please, Mr PM, teach your corrupt ministers how to commit suicide as a mark of failure to the nation.
All the ministers of the Cabinet should be grateful that they are not living in Japan.
Why are our leaders so obsessed with toilets? Everybody wants clean toilets. But, the level of toilet-obsession among our leaders is very disturbing. Keeping toilets clean is no rocket science. With proper education and enforcement of rules and regulations, is it just another task. Why is it so mind-bogging to them?
Of course, if they are referring to gov ministries as toilets – quite true also – then, it is a completely different matter.
Very interesting:-
“…. and to express the hope that the 14,000 Malaysians who stayed in Japan for training and studies under the Look East Policy would go home and continue with what they learnt in Japan…”
Seriously, when these Malaysians return home from Japan after whatever training and studies, they’ll be SOO RELIEVED to be free from having to continue the civic responsibilities, and very quickly upon landing in M’sia, to return to the good ol’ Malaysian ways of “tak apa-lah” in every aspect. As many have said, you just cannot take the kampung out of them, no matter donkey years they might have lived away from M’sia. Just look at KJ…!!! And he had a very very well-to-do and priviliged upbringing too, yet he still ends up typically, pathetically, kampung in the head, through-and-through.
I find it VERY, VERY ODD, that PM AAB makes his observations only NOW…? Why only now? Where is his accumulated experience in having travelled the world whilst he was the Foreign Minister? Admittedly with international issues and international relations of that time, I had found him to be more effective than the current Syed Hamid as Foreign Minister. That being so, we should expect that when he sits on the PM Chair, to bring to that PM’s role all his past cumulative Ministerial experiences to do his job, for betterment of country. Do Ministers leave all their miisiterial experience and knowledge behind everytime when they are appointed to different ministerial portfolio over time?
Blurrr…!!!
Embarrassing, but wasn’t he was at one time Malaysia’s Foreign Minister during TDM’s rule? How could he not have noticed how squeaky clean, modern and well-managed Japan has all along been?
Yeah let’s hope he has picked up their art of “Hara-kiri” tradition so that he can impart some knowledge to his ministers, if they have dignity left.
I have worked and been to Japan. No need for 3 or 4 visits. One is more than enough to leave you a deep impression for a lifetime.
Toilets are a result of the culture of the Japanese. Does Abdullah knows that 30,000 Japanese comits harakiri annually?
Why? If our cabinet ministers were to be acculturised overnight, more than 3/4 would have to comit harakiri, maybe including the PM himself.
The sense of responsibility and face among the Japanese are very high. During the WWII, most war plane pilots would prefer to die than to be caught. Why?
We don’t have the sense of shame and after 30 years, many bumi ministers are still clamouring for handouts and special priveledges.
Most of them says they are better than the rest, climb the highest mountain, etc. but they are very weak. Go and climb the mountain yourself without any help, then you are No. 1.
Despite much help with loans and scholarships, many came back without degrees and not able to pay back our money.
The Japs would rather die than being help.
Just yesterday a minister hanged himself.
We would like to see many of our ministers who are HP6 hang themself with effect immediately.
Fat chance to No chance, take your pick.
Your think the MPs are that stupid?
Do you seriously think that MPs who cheat and steal to get elected so that they can serve the rakyat better?
What a stupid article by a stupid journalist.
Ohhh, vely solly…..didn’t see that it’s an NST article………………..Gotya! You think everybody’s blind too?
Even if PM don’t ask them to resign collectively, he ought to take proactive action by sacking those who are really incompetent.
The bird don’t chirp, it’s no big deal. But when it cries, it startles everyone. I’ve read about a Chinese Emperor who reward good gov officials and kill the bad ones. Let the ministers concerned appear to the public in disgrace. We’re fed up with the answers from ministers. Only then we’ll be satisfied.
Seriously, our education system need to be reviewed. We want to produce civilised adults, not those bunch of social rubbish. They’re disgracing us in the eyes of international community.
We don’t need 4 trips to Japan to know these simple truths.
The crux of the matter has to do with the government of the day as to whether it has the political will to create a culture of integrity, responsibility and accountability. For this, our BN govt has failed over the last 50 years. I remember growing up as a boy that ministers from overseas countries whether it was UK, Japan, etc would resign if they have been under investigation for whatever matter such as corruption, etc. But here in Malaysia, even UMNO leaders found guilty of money politics are still retained in govt office. What kind of message do we give to the Malaysian public? What kind of culture are we creating? For the many kind of failures that certain govt depts have, the heads are required by convention to resign.
Will the govt of the day be willing to exercise its political will, however unpleasant to some of its party members, to pursue such a course of action that will create a culture of responsibility and accountability? Only then will we begin on the long road toward a culture of integrity, responsibility and accountability.
This PM is talking in his sleep as usual.
sorry to say, bodoh-land’s chances of having clean toilets will b about 40-50 years away… there is no point in having 1% of e rakyat having civic mindedness whle e other 99% trashes each n every toilet they step into. it will all hav to come fr educating e young. w all e mat rempits around… good luck having clean toilets. even if i wanna keep clean, seeing a loo w crap smeared all over, i wouldn’t think about cleaning it up n using it porperly. sorry to say…
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/IE30Ae01.html
“Dodgy accounting at a handful of prominent listed companies has put the spotlight back on Malaysia’s financial reporting and corporate governance. Not only has it taken the shine off the stock market’s recent good performance, which is only now emerging from the doldrums of the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis, but it has cast a shadow over recent upbeat investor sentiment. …”
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/5/29/worldupdates/2007-05-28t171754z_01_nootr_rtrmdnc_0_india-300240-6&sec=worldupdates
“Japan minister commits suicide, adds to PM’s woes” – The Star
Our minister knows no shame and has no dignity, come to think of it, if they all commit suicide like the Japanese, we’d be needing a new cabinet starting from the bottom to the top.
I remember some years back we have the look east policy, perharps this is one of the reason why we had to look elsewhere policy now, perharps honour and dignity is something they were never taught when young, and so this must have seem really babaric and far fetching to them.
Ministggers of Bodohland, if you’re one of those corrupted, go hang yourself.
What a joke, after one solid week, the first remark is :
“Did you check their toilets? Did you notice how clean the city is?â€Â
Is this what bodohland can come up with? spending sooo much for this observation?
We’re doom!
After the week holiday on the brand new airbus, the weak comment “did you notice how clean their toilet is?”
This statement indicates that BODOHLAND really has dirty tooilet with people missing the bull most of the time, secondly, it also tells us that this guy does not have a toilet as clean as the Japanese, thirdly, it clearly shows that Mr Bodohland is really impress with the Japanese toilet, perharps envy would be the word more befitting.
I move to have a new ministerial post “MINISTER of PUBLIC TOILETS”
This important post (it’s gotta be, we spend 12.5% of our life in there, perharps more for some”, he should appont his SIL, as there’s none other half pass six minister more capable of, and secondly, Samy, so when bocor again in one of those public loo, we could always blame it on God, again.
Anyone thinks that SIL should be this new minister too?
“did you check their toilets?……” – BODOHman, 2007
three things should be understood from this statement, that is:
1. Bodohland’s toilet sucks
2. Mr Bodohman, even in his own home, does not have clean toilets like the Japanese
3. he is envious of the Japanese toilets; gotta-lah, that’s the first thing that came out from his mouth.
These are my interpretation/s of that very important fact finding mission:
1. Bodoland’s people have such poor aim-manship that they continues to miss the bull/ frog; training should be provided.
2. Mr. Bodohland needs a new housekeeper.
3. New ministerial post “MINISTER OF PUBLIC TOILETS”, by appoinment – SIL (wink, wink, favourite machai, deputy, Samy, if leaks, can blame God.)
Dung and One eye can mop up and clean the toilets as pennitence for their silly remarks.
:D
Japanese Culture.
Japanese minister found dead
ahead of corruption probe.
Monday, May 28, 2007
Japan’s Agriculture Minister has been found dead today
just hours before he was due to face parliamentary
questioning over a political scandal.
Toshikatsu Matsuoka was found unconscious
in his apartment and rushed to hospital,
where he was pronounced dead a short time later.
He is believed to have hanged himself.
Matsuoka was due before a parliamentary
committee today to answer questions
about a corruption scandal
involving fraud and bribery.
so, who is first?
so, who is first?
All our cabinet ministers have travelled to other countries
on ‘official duty’ or on holidays. I think they are not
only half past six but wearing blinkers and therefore
cannot see. The PM said something and one of
the minister said good and as though he have not been
to Japan or watch TV programme how the trucks
look like in Japan. All these are nonsensical.
They should follow the Japan Agri Minister and get themselves
hang.
many things hav to read in between e lines…
sth like “lawatan sambil belajar”… but they nvr say wat they r aiming to “belajar”. maybe learn how to spend public money for their own entertainment?
i once had some business dealings with a gov linked company… their normal manager can hav lunch at a 5 star hotel each n everyday. juz a manager can do tt… so how much do u think they r spending on other stuff…. juz let it flow like water.
In Japan people commits hara-kiri if they have erred. Here we hv 1/2 past 6 ministers pointing fingers at each other. See the big difference? Our ministers here their skin is thicker than Kobe beef.
If Abdullah is serious about getting the cabinet ministers to emulate the Japanese government, then Samy, Rafidah, JJ, Azmi, Zam, Hishamuddin, Nazri, Chan KC, Ong KT, Chua SL and the list goes on, will have to do the harakiri to start off with. Although the Japanese Minister of Agriculture hanged himself but that should do too as long as they kill themselves for being so corrupted and a disgrace to the country.
What’s with our leaders?
They travel to Japan and tell us how clean the toilets over there are.
For some reason they omit telling folks at home about the entertainment they receive from Maiko-sans (or young Geishas – the real Geishas are a pain to look at as many are close to being octogenarians).
How come they don’t say anything about the Japanese skill in manipulating, fleecing and defrauding tourists?
If you happen to visit the Mitsukoshi Department store in central Tokyo to buy some expensive electronic gadget for your ten-year old son at home, be sure what the salesman is wrapping is the same one you have selected for your son. If he gives you some excuse to return to the store room to look for another one be sure to inspect the one he is bringing to you.
If you happen to be standing in front of the Imperial Hotel or New Otani apparently waiting for a cab, and someone approaches you with offers of the services of a ‘school girl’, who is not about to ask you for help with her school work, make sure when he takes you to a bar after making several rounds in the same neighborhood to justify the fare he is charging you, to insist on looking at the price list before you order your favourite whisky, Chivas Regal or your favourite Cognac, Courvoisier .
Remember the hostess drinks at your expense. The commission on the drinks is hers to keep but the ‘pain’ is your own. So you think you are smart when you decide to smell that first drink and smarter when you smell the second one. Think again! You are underestimating how hard working the Japanese are. The first two is definitely Cognac but in between some twelve or so drinks between the both of you, it is the good old Oolong tea at work – for her, though not for you. For you she needs the help she could get from Cognac. You can bet your life that you would be drinking what you ask for though not at the price you expect!
Do not underestimate the Japanese work ethics. Within five minutes of making your grand entrance into what looks like a posh and private room in traditional Japanese style, she could tell how much travelers’ checks you have on you – and therefore your limit! Within ten minutes she could repeat details of your flight. But for some reason they do not accept credit cards.
We are not even talking about the Yakuza and their hold over Japan’s entertainment industry.
Mahathir’s Look East Policy has given us Perwaja Steel and Proton not to mention the many karaoke bars all over the country. But we cannot be sure what Abdullah’s second look at the Look East Policy will bring for Malaysia – a new breed of Malaysian sumo wrestlers? Your guess is as good as mine.
You think our sleeping PM can think that far? He can’t even get the Satay House man to resign and you want him to touch who? If you ask him to eat nasi Kandan maybe he is interested, by the way his brother’s nasi kandan restaurant in Perth has closed shop. He only cut the ribbon during the time Kota Tinggi was having flood and now already closed shop, wow! only 4 months and the so called “McDonald” of Malaysia is already belly up.
malaysia boleh!
Harakiri may be not so suitable as there will be many ghosts loitering around the government dept.
It will be good enough if they are willing to resign with a letter of apology !
I don’t think our Ministers could afford to follow the Japs. They are so greed on power and money !
Commit Suicide is against the teaching of most religions & I’m against it. But it is an honorable things to do especially for those who has betrayed the trust given to them by the whole nation. Japanese are very discipline people & they will rather die than be shamed.
But in Malaysia, it’s very different. Ever heard of Malaysian Minister who is thin skin? If the culture of Hara Kiri is practised in Malaysia, even if all our ministers are cats, their 9 lives long last them very long. Just for eg, how many scandals involved SV this year alone? Nine lives wouldn’t even last a year!
Hehehehehe, soooo many people asking our YB to go die, show’s that they are very popular these days.
If suicide is out of the questions for these yang ber-ormats, I would just settle for them being run over by busses or trains.
Japan borned again in 1945, which makes her 62 years young now. From 1957 till now, Malaysia is 50 years old, not too young from Japan. A difference of 12 years.
Should other culture be better than the Malaysian culture ( which is what ? ) ? Doesn’t the Malaysian culture have something to show the world too ?
Scientifically, a clean toilet is dry, stainless and odourless because this cut down the number of germs . Religion teaches an individual to wash with water and tradition teaches an individual to spit anywhere in the toilet room after using it. Water and spit promotes the growth of germs.
Standing in line means fairness to everyone. Everyone has to wait even if it is for a looong time. When one jumps queue, one is actually practising unfairness in life without knowing it.
How to be accountable for the actions we have taken ? Even the boss wants to pass the buck to her subordinates. She is afraid to sign for anything, fearing that the Anti Corruption Agency is after her head. So she orders her subordinate to do so, thinking that her head will be safe. Well if she is so self centered, why is she made the boss in the first place ?
May be the government should have an exchange problem. Japanese workers come here to the public service. Malaysian workers go there to their public service. Let them have a wild, crazy time. Let them write a report and do not expect a good report because a good report gets you nowhere. You want a change ? You really want a change ? Then be strong hearted and gracious to read a real bad report and change from there.
True true. Pak Lah also dun wanna follow rule and ask MU to come. Why we all who under Pak Lah need to follow rule? Let’s break all the rule tommorow. Its ok :)
“….what Abdullah’s second look at the Look East Policy will bring for Malaysia – a new breed of Malaysian sumo wrestlers? Your guess is as good as mine.” – Undergrad2
Haven’t you heard? A large shipment of “katana”(samurai sword) has been ordered and will be arriving at Putrajaya early June? He plans to summon for Naib and just place the katana right before him. SV, Johari and others will follow. The two bocor MPs will make up the 3rd group.
Jong,
Yes I heard. The local grapevine tells us that our Prime Minister has ordered a large shipment of katana swords to give Kerishamudin and company a new toy to play with. It seems that the katana bread knife would do just as well. But then what a short object can do, a longer one can do just as well if not better.
This is the Japanese answer to the Malay keris. Talk about looking east for a policy.
If any of the minister should perform harakiri, why not start with the most corrupt of them all first? [deleted] Now that is truly leading by example as written in many Japanese management books. If we want to follow the Japanese so much, why not adopt TPM? We can start with Initial Cleaning and flush out all the corrupt ministers. That would be fun…
c’mon…lets give our PM a break.maybe hes nvr seen a cleaner toilet in his life and now he has.our PM is just being sincere and giving his praise on how the japanese people lead their life.so now whn hes back i hope he will follow the example of these japanese cultures in a clean,efficient and transparent government.culture in the sense not for the malays,indians,chinese and other races but a culture we can be proud off for all malaysians.if our PM is sincere in showing his struggle for all malaysians fr all walks of life…why not give him a chance.so go for it Mr PM…make our toilets shine in malaysia.get rid and flush the dirty scums in the cabinet down the drain.if it gets clogged…dilute them with acid and make them burn for their corrupted sins.save malaysia.
Maybe last year our kerisman was waving his keris to signal his intent to do the honorable thing – just lacked a bit of gut to do it.
Perhaps the keris was meant for the Klang Datuk Zakaria Md Deros to do the honorable thing.
What is the story with Zakaria Md Deros? Semua lupa already!
since when did the gomen realize. now is already year 2007. they should have known about it 10 or 20 years ago. it is no need for PM or the gomen to notice the differences… singapore is good enough, just 3hr drive or 45min flight.
this is the problem, when gomen only employ ministers that only know how to makan gaji buta, create havoc in parlimen, talk nonsense and close satu mata case. aku tak tahu…
aku punya falsampah!
There’s lot of platitudes here. Culture is an amalgam of interconnected strands of values in a seamless web. How does one selectively want to emulate one or two strands of Japanese work ethic, sense of accountability and responsibility in not passing the buck and yet not the other strands their commitment to meritocracy and competition (perpetuating a system of subsidies under NEP) and a sense of shame (resignation of politicians in cases of public scandal will do – don’t have to go as far as Hara-kiri or suicide likeToshikatsu Matsuoka)?
This is the result of decades of bad leadership and administration.
From “To Digress A Little”, by Syed Akbar Ali, :-
If we are serious about portraying a cleaner image we can ask all our ministers, high ranking govt servants as well as managers of GLSc to declare their assets every six months. It may sound tedious but if simple standard procedures are put in place we are only talking about a thousand people or less. But if they are well behaved, they will become exemplary servants for teh rest of our country.
The checks must be done by the PM himself and not by the ACA. If theanswers are not reflective of teh truth, the PM will know it. Then its upto the PM to decide what to do. If the PM has his own mettle, and has a higher moral standard, then he will not need ACA to take care of ‘people with access’.
If we are serious about halting corruption we cannot just say “If you can proveit, bring forward the hard evidence”. This is like the religious folks telling the rape victim “If you say you were raped bring forward the four male witnesses of good conduct who actually observed you being raped. ….one must witness the act of penetration….
We are not going to get anywhere with this type of attitude. It will ony encourage the corrupt to find more creative means of getting around the system. If you want to rape someone and get away with in the religious courts, make sure theer are not more than three witnesses. If there are more than three witnesses make sure they are all women. You may just get away with it.
Almost everyday we read about convictions of fathers raping their daughters, …uncles raping nieces and so on among teh malay community. It is extremely embarassing that so far none of these rapists and molesters have been convicted in teh Syariah Courts. Instead it is the common law courts that are sending these criminals to jail. The common law courts accept DNA and other material evidence.
If we do not promote a higher moral fibre among the populace no amount of clean ups and anti corruption drives will help us.
end quote
AAB,
Get your priorities right.
Is having clean toilets such a big deal now?
Please stop behaving or pretending to be naive.
What we need now is responsible and accountable cabinet ministers and civil service. Example, what have you done for the case patients died because ambulance had no petrol. Any reports, any actions? Public has the right to know.
I had lots of hope when you became the PM, I thought the man with strong religious background will exercise conscience in running the country. It is a sad truth that you are a hypocrite, self-centered and with zero administrive skills. You are the shame of the country and will go down in history that way.
It is not too late to change.
Who is this Ali Akbar???
Doesn’t he know that you are presumed innocent until proven guilty. That’s what my CLP lecturer tells me. If you are guilty until proven innocent then you will find a lot of people in jail.
Fauzlah wrote:
â€ÂIndeed, the toilets, especially at the Narita International Airport where millions of local and foreign passengers go through, and the city were impeccably clean.â€Â
Of course the Japanese do not use the toilets as often as Malaysians do. They wear diapers.
Maybe AAB should ask his entire Cabinet to commit suicide for all the embarassment, failures and flip-flops. That should solve our national Problem #1: a ‘half-past six Cabinet’.
Learn from the japanese. Their ministers rather commit suicide than face all the shame. Our Ministers’ skin grow thicker under all the embarassment!
The Look East Policy was introduced 25 years ago and now they are still TALKING about doing something to emulate the Japs .
The NEP started 38 years ago and now still nobody has yet TALKED about ending it or at least reviewing it.
Our independence started 50 years ago and someone is still TALKING about racial ties being brittle.
The one that takes the cake of course would be Najib’s remark that “It would not be possible to erase 400 years of being backward in 20 years”
See that trend of our backwardness?
Our gomen is practicising exactly what Najib is preaching.
This backward mindset has to go and along with it, this gomen.
Japanese culture is one that is obsessed with cleanliness, hygiene, and tidiness, something lost to a lot of foreigners..The obsession may have its origins in Shinto’s ideas.
Shinto is the native religion of Japan and was once its state religion. One of the four Affirmations” of the Shinto spirit is spiritual and PHYSICAL cleanliness: followers of Shinto take baths, wash their hands, and rinse out their mouths.
What more toilet training? Japanese hate impurities and think it’s important to have a place to remove them. That place is the toilet.
Japanese toilet culture is based on this Shinto’s idea. Which explains why Japan has an enduring fascination with the toilet–replete with cutting-edge technology. Japan’s undisputed king of toilets is Toto Ltd., which makes enormous profits making solid 24-karat-gold johns for the super rich and for the middle income, the super bowls, some costing up to US$4,000.
Japanese are different. The Culture based on Shinto is different. It is easy to say emulate. This is very superficial without knowing why culturally they are different.
It is one of Life’s enduring pleasure to go to toilet and sit on the toilet bowl, super throne for your bum fitted replete with lights, hoses, buttons, remote controls and temperature and water-pressure adjustments etc so that your bum will be warmed even as your undercarriage is squirted with warm water and blow-dried, obviating the need for toilet paper.
In this last respect they are the same as some of us whose religious beliefs are against use of toilet paper!
World over, people are not really clean when answering call of nature. Only 30% use toilet papers – the alternatives include hands, water, sand, small rocks, mud, leaves, rope, corn husks and even seaweeds (eg in Africa & Middle East).
After what PM said, some business conies will get the right inspiration to bring in some exclusive brand of Japanese washlets, toilet bowls fully equipped with computers and make money.
Why must the PM be shock and site example from japanese on the issues he raised?
All that he mentioned are issues that have been raised since we had our visit malaysia year campaign long ago……yet nothing has been done….
I agree with “megaman” that the comments he made is a slap on his face since he was in charge of the look east policy 25 years ago…If he cant do it then why now?
WAKE UP MALAYSIANS & MAKE A DIFFERENCE
“World over, people are not really clean when answering call of nature. Only 30% use toilet papers – the alternatives include hands, water, sand, small rocks, mud, leaves, rope, corn husks and even seaweeds (eg in Africa & Middle East).” Jeffrey
Thanks a lot, Jeffrey. I just lost my appetite.
Me too! Ini semua belakang kira punya culture.
“…why Japan has an enduring fascination with the toilet–replete with cutting-edge technology. Jeffrey
We go to toilet to let things hang out. I hope with the Japanese using their cutting-edge technology, I will not have anything that hangs out cut off.
we all know that AAB was a different person when EMA left. He seems to have a different set of passion. Nowadays, we all know that KJ is the driving force. The boys in L4 also very tight in arranging schedules for AAB and NTR. Most cases, L4 boys put NTR up front as he have several ‘serious’ cases wrapping around him. Ever noticed NTR public behavior lately, he looks like more ‘jade’ than smiling as usual. We all know that there are far too many things inside his thinking lately. The C4 case may have a few more leads that might ‘shocked’ the public. The cover up have been well arranged by the law enforcer department and the fallen guys have taken over. Everything is placed now and waiting for the right time to make the proper move.
AAB is more relaxing now with more international ‘business’ visits and socializing with OIC members. His brother, BAB’s businesses are not doing well and soon to be advised to ‘stay away’ until things settled down. His financial woes have been ‘arranged’ for write off. We have many more issue that we don’t noticed that going around behind the scene.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article1857062.ece
Second suicide in corruption scandal
A former executive implicated in a bid-rigging scandal jumped to his death from an apartment block yesterday, only 24 hours after a government minister committed suicide on the eve of an inquiry into corruption. When will our honorable Malaysian ministers emulate their honorable Jap counterparts?
You do not just wipe the plate without using water, right? Therefore to be clean, you must use toilet paper and water as well. Do not criticise the 70% of the people who use other means to clean themselves. The 30% using toilet paper is not clean as well. You have a higher tendency to get piles (hemorrhoids)
That was a hilarious, fantastic writeup to “the art of dislodging our impurities”, Jeffrey !
Jeffrey,
thanks for the post; it was enlightening, to say the least. I like best the part …”the undisputed king of toilets is Toto……” which reminds me that today is Draw day, must get my 4/49, Lucky Pick…:-)
One of the key reasons why Malaysian toilets are always dirty is our toilets always wet!
Guess you all know why our toilets are wet always.
Many of my foreign friends totally cannot stand the “wetness” of our toilets.
Malaysians needs a more civilized method to clean the shits!
“The 30% using toilet paper is not clean as well. You have a higher tendency to get piles (hemorrhoids)†–Malayviewpoint
No, it is cleaner but you are right about the connection with health problem : that is why you should spend a bit money to get softest issue paper, definitely not the cheap dry and hard type that you wipe harshly as if it were a sand paper but preferably, the more expensive, and if possible, the softest type moistened with medication to avert hemorrhoids ….but before Undergrad2 complains further of the loss of his appetite, the intent of my posting , as it relates to the thread of emulating the Japanese, is to underscore that one cannot pick one or two strands of others’ so called habits without considering the context of people’s entire culture that you are not adopting – for examples, to those sympathetic to Pak’s call to emulate, you can’t really extol Japanese ethics without embracing meritocracy and abandonment of the subsidies ethos; you cannot just emulate Japanese’ obsession with cleanliness without factoring in the cultural legacy of Shinto religion and its precepts that are not applicable to us – and for those sympathetic to Kit’s call for resignation, you can’t expect ½ past six ministers to resign out of shame of scandal and incompetence when we’re not a “warrior martial†people like Japanese putting honour more important than Life itself and committing hara-kiri when in defeat!
As I said in my earlier first posting, culture is an amalgam of interconnected strands of values in a seamless web in respect to which one cannot selectively pick on one or two or more strands of what one thinks are good whilst ignoring the context and their interconnectedness with other cultural strands making the whole matrix of culture that you one does not accept. That I believe is the point sought to be clarified here.
You are right Jeff, one cannot isolate just one trait and force feed it into another culture. The chinese always like to spit anywhere, and rather than telling them to stop, the Beijing govt is contemplating building spitoons at strategic points in the City in time for the olympics, and taxi drivers have plastic bags to spit in!!! And just look at Chinese toilets in the rural areas, they double up as fertiliser “stores”. If the culture has been to use leaves and sand to clean up, no amount of jacuzzi type toilets will induce cleaner habits. Yucks! we have to live with our dirty habits after all….. :-)
I hope with the Japanese using their cutting-edge technology, I will not have anything that hangs out cut off – Diaperhead.
Japanese are pushing the frontiers. 2 major Japanese manufacturers are developing their latest project of a toilet that doubles as a doctor’s office. At Matsushita’s research center in Tokyo, scientists explain how they are working on embedding technology in the porcelain that will catch a urine sample, shoot it full of lasers and in short order test it for glucose, kidney disease and eventually even cancer. One of the researchers, Tatsuro Kawamura, says future smart toilets will compile and compare medical results day by day, allowing doctors to spot important changes.
Another more kinky manufacturer is drawing up plans for a toilet that doubles up as a sexual gynasium with gadgets that satisfy all physiological needs of a person, solo. I won’t go into details here that will affect alot of people sensibilities.
So what is there for Malaysians to compare with what the Japanese do and their habits?
To Mr.Badawi
Pls dont be silly.!!!!
Your cabinet were a bunch of Punk & Jerk.
Do followed the Japanese ways, do u know our BN Govt are just better off then Kenya,Nigeria & Bangaladesh.
You should feel lucky that Japan PM till got time to entertain u.
Bodohland only produce bodohmen.,
Mean that Bodohmen rull the CABINET “A Half pass Six Kind”
Sigh…
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/05/29/asia/29Kazak.php
The authorities in Kazakhstan announced Monday that they had issued an international arrest warrant for Rakhat Aliyev, the powerful but much-loathed son-in-law of President Nursultan Nazarbayev. So you see what can happen to son-in-laws, especially much-loathed ones….when will it happen in Malaysia?
ehhhh? Strange? I thought AAB’s mother in law is Japanese?!?! What talking him?
There must be degree/diploma/STPM/SPM courses on how to keep toilets clean. However, we should make sure there are no leaks of the toilet-exam papers like the leaks of the CLP-exam papers of old.
AAB is so lazy that he even doesn’t want to study the KPI (Key Performance Index) of each of his minister in order to do the long awaited firing of his imcompetent ministers.
But of course, if he did look at the KPI, the first to fire would be he himself!
Some people may appears bright until you hear him speak. Now you know why Abdullah kept quiet all the time, now you wish he kept his elegance silence to spare us from being humiliated over and over again. PM Abdullah is history, Malaysians must now keep a lookout for potential candidates for our next PM.
dawsheng said //Malaysians must now keep a lookout for potential candidates for our next PM.//
I think cartonist Lat can perform a much better job than Bad-awi.
What about we short list Siti or Alex Young too for this post?
At least these people look better than our sleeping beauty, we are Malaysians, gaya mesti ada.
Our PM is finally talking sense on the part about emulating the Japanese. I fully support Abdullah Badawi for setting a precedent by committing suicide.
Grandpop is Chinese, mother in law is Japanese, son in law is Bangladeshi.
Instead of going to Japan to observe and learn about their economic progress he occupies his mind with their toilets.
We are now facing economic uncertainties which I think is more crucial and not interested in how to improve the toilet situation.
It’s now possible to categorize Bodohland’s parliamentarian into categoriesm thanks to good old Mr. Bodohman’s toilet comment, in short, what you can find in those defecation holes bears similarity to many of them, they are:………
1. The clean ones, there, you’d find nothing except cleanliness, these are only a small handful, but it is there to antagonize those dirty ones.
2. The wishy washy one, the gooie runny one, this is liken to a poo that cannot decides whether to be firm solid waste or to be just runny gooie ones, represnting indecisiveness, only one wishy washy leader that’d fit this category.
3. The down right dirty one, here, you’d find all kinds of item besides that smelly floatsome, you’d find discarded newspaper that has big letter “MONGO…., C4”, this one is so messed up it will be near impossible to flush, only one candidate fits here.
4. The rock had solid floatsome, these are real tough to get rid of, and is usually in one’s system for to long until they are sort of hardened, similar to the long standing APs and kickbacks I can think of two YBs that will fit into this category, can you?
5. The false alarm, these are liken to one defecation hole that has loud groans and pungent smell, but nothing there, kinda like empty promises, Chinese dog party falls into this category comfortably.
6. The black, runny and smelly one, this category of defecation hole is usually the ones that is down right dirty and smelly, that will stick on whatever it has contacted, kinda like the young kampong hero fella, dirty, smelly and ought to be flush thrice.
7. The all sorts of poo, very smelly one, this is one tough poo with an attitude, with bits of undigested veggie that doubles as toupee and has blood on it sometimes, kinda like that toupee on black Dracula, this challenge 4 times flushing with antiseptic cleaner, as smelly and as untouchable as it comes, one candidate only.
8. The whatever splattered poo, this is one messy poo, soon after leaving the anus, dirties up the place, kind of like dung and close one eye poo.
9. The domino poos, a large category of our beloved poos falls in neatly into this category, you know, sometimes when one airs oneself, others follows, a number of bodohlan’s honourable poos falls into this categories.
Various types of defecation holes and poos are illustrated here, these bear close resemblance to bodohland’s esteem leaders, one just can’t help wonder why there is so much poo in so little a place
In short, no resignation is needed, disinfect them and flush this poo hole clean.
This is really a good one, ihavesomethingtosay, well done!
Mahathir had been “LOOKING EAST POLICY”. After his 23 years of ruling Malaysia, he passed down the culture to present prime minister.
You would never expect anything would change!
Look at present state of situtation, no body bother lah. Who care?
You would still see BN continue to win votes in coming general election. There are reasons for this.
Yeah, tell me about it, Bodohlah! If you want to follow Japan in terms of cleanliness, I guess the first thing you should focus on is yourself, your cabinet ministers, and your party members. I must say that the public toilets here even smell better than the corrupt practices committed by you and your gang of bandits. So don’t be so quick to pick on the lesser evils.
Since he is so obsessed with the Japanese culture of toilet cleanliness and hygiene, perhaps a special ministry should be formed and a Japanese minister of toiletries should be appointed just for this lame purpose.
Speaking of the Look-East policy, why not look down south since it is less far-fetched? If the nation of 42 years old (8 years younger) can do it, why can’t Bodohland? Issit due to jealousy or what?
If the Japanese were to slaughter the Malays instead of the Chinese during WWII, do you think TDM would have advocated the Look-East policy? I don’t mean that the Look-East policy is unnecessary but why does our government only single out Japan and not Korea/Europe/America/Australia? Talking about imperialism and colonialism, didn’t the Japanese invade us as well?
I don’t understand why our government has the penchant of picking and choosing values to emulate from the Japanese whenever it suits them and not the entire context.
What about PSD efficiency? Meritocracy? Discipline? Diligence? Punctuality? Incorrupt governance? Systematic and creative education system? Effective traffic law enforcement?
We should now think how to survive our national “leaderless” crisis. The general election is closing in at a time ripe for disaster, from now on uncertainties rule the days ahead of us. We should be very worry when our PM’s overseas trip end up as toilet lessons. PM Abdullah’s economic agenda is full of contradictions. If PM Abdullah can talk to PM Lee of Singapore to invest in IDR, why can’t he talk to the local Chinese to do the same? We are not short of business leaders to develop Johor Bahru, are we? Looks like it was a smokescreen afterall and one can’t help but ask what is it at the end of the fork? Someone got to tell the PM either you do it or you don’t do anything at all, don’t even talk. It is time to call for the general election, the country cannot afford such a wishy washy leader like PM Abdullah. But why aren’t we do anything yet? See how powerless we became to decide for ourselves.
Having worked in Japan and other places, what bother me most about the PM comment is how shallow he is in observing the Japanese. All he see is the superficial and not an iota of idea of how the result is obtained.
The Japanese standards of excellence is both a technical and cultural one. Their social homogeneity and compliance is legendary and at its core highly complicated.
Certaintly there are things to be learned but culturally we are different and the idea that we can reached the same standards by emulating them shivers me down the spine and aghast me at the level of superficiality of our top leader.
Why do you call your Prime Minister “PAK LAH”? It sounds like… kampung people. We have our past prime minister having title like ” Bapa kemerdekaan”, “Bapa perindustrian”,etc… our current PM? “Bapa..?”
LOOK EAST POLICIES begin with Tun Dr.Mahathir… He has the vision..and yet many of his compatriot dont see the need to emulate the Japanese Culture in someways especially in the social,technology and business working ettiques.
It is a disbelieve that our PakLah is surprised of Japanese high standard in their society structure and discipline. It shows his ignorance for the past…. huh? how many years?
Now TDM is being shunned away, because TDM has always tried to change the country’s majority by showing them the world and bring the world to Malaysia.. and many dont like TDM’s vision..It goes against their ego of thinking they are the best from the rest…who needs them when we got Petronas
Mr PM, most Malaysians, including yourself, cant follow the culture of the Japanese that uses minimal water in the toilet, to keep the floor clean. You dont have to pass a statistic paper in a university to know that wet floors attract the tait kucing or whatever that is stuck to the soles of your shoes.
It is incredible the fascination we have with clean toilets. More incredible is the wealth of knowledge being shared here on the what, where, how and when of toilet habits.
Did’nt I read somewhere we are inviting a “Doc. Toilet” from Botswana to help with our toilet revolution?
On the subject of Japanese toilet habits, there is one that I am still trying to figure out and I hope some who has lived in Japan long can help me answer it. Japanese men would not hesitate to pee on the sidewalks especially at night. I have seen this in abundance in Osaka and was actually advised not to step on puddles on sidewalks if there is no rain. Such a contradiction as I agree their toilets are indeed spotless. Maybe, the sidewalks habits keep the toliets clean.
Digressing a little, if you are visiting Sweden, take note an average height Malaysian usually cannot reach the urinals of most Swedish toilets. They are built higher for the taller Swedes. Either you shoot upwards or bring a stool.
Malays can make smarter if they use chopsticks instead of hands.
History has shown clearly that the mind of human beings improves greatly if tools are used.
By the way, pls use tissue paper too to make you more brainy…
Futurepolitician says,
Why do you call your Prime Minister “PAK LAHâ€Â? It sounds like… kampung people. We have our past prime minister having title like †Bapa kemerdekaanâ€Â, “Bapa perindustrianâ€Â,etc… our current PM? “Bapa..?â€Â
Our current PM is “Bapa Mertua KJ”…
mendala,, funny one, but I had to disagree, judging from 2006’s UMNO GA, when Keris was use, that pudding is still no smarter.
Cinapek,
Only Sweden has high-up urinals? It should be the whole of Europe I guess since Europeans are naturally tall and huge in size.
Chopsticks only works in pair. That is why it is difficult to master.
The use of chopsticks will excite our left brain and make us smarter.
Look at all the advanced countries or territories in Asia, be it Japan, Korea, Singapore, HK, Taiwan, what do they have in common?
Look at China and Vietnam too, these are the giants that are over-taking Malaysia fast!
Let’s ignore North Korea, it is all the fat Kim’s faults!
takazawa,
I visited both Sweden and Finland two weeks ago. Indeed Swedish toilets are much taller than the Fins.
Unlike Malaysian toilets, both are almost spotless though.
By the way, Finland only have 5.2 Millions of population. But they have Nokia, which commands 36% of world mobile phone market!
Malaysia has a population of 26 Millions, we have Proton and Putrajaya!
“Instead of going to Japan to observe and learn about their economic progress he occupies his mind with their toilets.” Lily
He has a toilet mentality. Who can blame him since he spends most of his working hours in the toilet. Then when he comes out of his many toilets, he asks why he was not told this and that.
The rest of the time when he is not in the toilet, he is sleep walking!
Naah! When he is not in the toilet he is busy flushing stuff down the toilet. Wonder why.
Wonder why? You in it?