Malaysian politeness: modern society in the making

Abstract

The importance of politeness issues have been a growing concern globally. Branding certain society with negative image on politeness can stir up mix reaction and prejudice analysis. For some people, it seems fair enough to analyze a society's politeness solely from accidentals generalizations. As we move towards a developed nation, the politeness issues should not be left unattended. Unfortunately, not many people realize the importance of educating our society to achieve certain standard of politeness in order to live in conducive and unthreatening environment. This paper will try to uncover the awareness of Malaysians towards politeness and compare it to non-Malaysians counterpart. The scope of the study will focus on the politeness gestures and communications displayed by front office personnel, since they are considered the little ambassadors that represent the image of Malaysians. This ethnographic study is hoped can unravel the truth about politeness in Malaysian society and serve as a guide to conduct ourselves with dignity and move forward toward modernization.