Show grace and courtesy to all visitors

WHAT does “teaching a thing or two” mean?

One of the examples listed in Collins Dictionary for usage of “teaching a thing or two” in a sentence is “Everybody gets excited about the idea of teaching you a thing or two about tennis”.

The other 16 examples are also positive. So why did some Malaysians react negatively to Singapore swimmer Joseph Schooling’s remark about going to Malaysia’s backyard and teaching them a thing or two?

He later clarified: “I was actually talking about our younger kids going there and teaching (our) rookies a thing or two about the launch pad that we have in the SEA Games to bigger and better meets in the future.”

Last Friday, Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin urged Malaysians not to be too sensitive over the remark by Schooling, which was taken out of context.

Olympic Council of Malaysia president Tunku Imran Tuanku Ja’afar also reminded fans who will be at the swimming venue not to jeer the Singaporean Olympic gold medallist.

The SEA Games is the greatest opportunity for Malaysians to welcome visitors from Asean countries. Last year, over 20 million or 75.8% of all visitors to Malaysia came from the other nine Asean countries, with Singapore alone contributing 49.6%.

And just like many Singaporeans and Malaysians with families on both sides of the Causeway, Schoolings’ mother was from Ipoh, where his aunt and maternal grandmother still live.

Many Malaysians become angry over nothing, and easily take offence when none was intended. They do not realise that their reaction is a reflection of themselves.

In 1999, I was fortunate to attend the trainthe-trainer for the Malaysia Host programme conducted by the Tourism Ministry.

It was modelled after the hugely successful Canadian programme which succeeded in training the locals to become great hosts for visitors to the 1986 World Expo in Vancouver.

Participants learned that interpersonal communication skill is key to great customer service and words used in verbal communication are given only 7% weightage.

This is because the same word can have opposite meanings when spoken lovingly or angrily. It is not what was said but how it was said.

As such, the tone of the voice or vocal communication is given 38% weightage. We think and say with words but our true feelings are conveyed by the sounds we make.

Non-verbal, which I describe as visual communication, takes up 55% weightage. This is because our facial expression and body language are dead giveaways as to how we feel. Many people do not realise that we are communicating all the time even when we are silent.

It is not surprising that many Malaysians are involved in unnecessary quarrels as they lack personal development and communication skills.

It would be great if Malaysia could win the targeted 111 gold medals. But in my book, any competitor, irrespective of nationality, who has performed to the best of his or her ability, deserves a platinum medal.

Likewise to Malaysians who make all visitors feel truly welcome, and those at the venues who cheer all competitors on. Such gesture, if developed to become our Malaysian culture, is worth more than all the gold medals at the SEA Games.

If we can do that, the rest of the world would be happy for Malaysia to teach them a thing or two, just like the Japanese have done on courtesy.

YS CHAN Kuala Lumpur