Flabbergasted. I guess that would be the most appropriate word to describe my feelings when the news that UDPA was giving a special assignment to be completed in one day reached my ears. Things started to get a little bit complicated when I found out that the assignment was to write approximately 1500 words about the value of punctuality. Punctuality is a very vast topic to be discussed and up to the last day of submitting this assignment I was still contemplating on how best should I approach this topic of punctuality.
A longtime concern of mine has been the lack of appreciation regarding punctuality among Malaysian quality or habit of adhering to an appointed time and strict observance in keeping with prior agreed engagement. It seems that Malaysian has become too accustomed with the phrase of “Janji Melayu” that we are actually engulfed into a very sad state of tardiness.
This led us to the very basis of this article. Is there really a need for concern regarding the lack of punctuality? I am not making a simple generalization that Malaysians cannot be trusted when it comes to adhering to an appointed time, but frankly speaking, most Malaysians do not take the importance of being punctual seriously. The trouble with being punctual in Malaysia is that nobody' is there to appreciate it. Allow me to quote Gerald Barzan;
“Laugh and the world laughs with you, be prompt and you dine alone."
Having said that, there are Malaysians who value time highly. To them, promptitude is not only a duty, but is also a part of good manners, which is favorable to fortune, reputation, influence, and usefulness. Some even give it as their deliberate and solemn conviction that the individual who is habitually tardy in meeting an appointment will never be respected or successful in life. For businessmen, punctuality is the soul of business and one of the cardinal business virtues.
Lack of punctuality is a theft of someone else's time especially as an employee who is late for work but even as friends, where we have agreed to meet at a set time. The concept is simple; "If I have made an appointment with you, I owe you punctuality, I have no right to throw away your time, if I do my own. Such a simple concept but ironically too little Malaysians could adhere to it. Unfaithfulness in the keeping of an appointment is an act of clear dishonesty and we may as well borrow a person's money as his time.
Those who do not value time highly are actually those with thousands of missed opportunities. In this regard, Niccolo Machiavelli once said, "Tardiness often robs us opportunity, and the dispatch of our forces. The best-laid plans, the most important affairs, the fortunes of individuals, the weal of nations, honor, life itself, are daily sacrificed because somebody is 'behind time. There are men who always fail in whatever they undertake simply because they are 'behind time’. There are others who put off reformation year by year, till death seizes them; and they perish unrepentant, because for ever 'behind time.' Five minutes in a crisis is worth years. It is but a little period, yet it has often saved a fortune or redeemed a people. If there is one virtue that should be cultivated more than another by him who would succeed in life, it is punctuality.
Have we squandered opportunities due to our lack of punctuality? Let's take a look at the value in practicing punctuality. First let us look at the impact to ourselves. Certainly it will make us better persons. Lord Nelson was once quoted saying “I have always been a quarter of an hour before my time, and it has made a man of me”. It is an spoken perception regarding man's intellectual or moral character, if he was habitually unfaithful to his appointments.
As a civil servant, being punctual will definitely portray the image of a sensitive and responsible officer who would put the public needs as their number one priority in delivering such an outstanding service for the betterment of the nation as a whole. This would likely eliminate the most common perception that dealing with government officers would require a special level of patience as they would not adhere to appointment that was earlier set by them and it would take forever to complete a very simple task that could be done in just a matter of minutes.
Is it that hard to be a prompt person? Or how to be on time? It is really quite simple. Plan to be early, and start out early. Plan to arrive 15 minutes before any event begins. If these simple rules could be put into practice, surely it would marked a new beginning of a new breed of government officers that would bring Malaysia to a new unprecedented height by practicing good governance and delivering A class service to the public as well as their stakeholders.
I guess the most obvious reason on why Malaysian cannot be punctual is because of the well_known_trait_of procrastination. As one of the English philosopher once said “Procrastination is the thief of time”. As we procrastinate, we tend to take things for granted as when the time is due for submission or to deliver a service that is needed, there is a very high tendency that the output would be not to the level of it supposed to be.
Secondly, I believe that the level of sense of urgency really varies among Malaysian unlike the Japanese. Just look at the way we walk. We would be complacent enough to walk slowly without any sense of urgency at all! There some in Malaysia who cannot life with that kind of treatment towards time. For some time is money and every second wasted is like throwing your cash to the drains. A society with a high level sense of urgency like the Japanese would be really focusing on the core business and would not mixed it up with their personal life as this kind of society does not only respect time but the even treasure time.
In our journey to really transform Malaysia to become one of the most developed states by the year 2020, a Japanese_like society would accelerate our pace of development. A society that does not value punctuality will have no place at all in the years to come. On the larger scale, disrespect to time will mean inefficiency and unnecessary delay. This would be one of the major factors to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) to come to Malaysia. How can we attract investor and business minded people to Malaysia if the society is ignorant towards time and punctuality.
Another reason is that Malaysian has the propensity to forgive those who do not respect time. Though certain control mechanism to make sure government officers pay more attention to time, has been clearly laid out but yet the implementation still remains at status quo. Maybe, the real problem lies in us. Our attitude of not respecting people will end up with people not respecting us. Respect is earned and cannot be told and those who respect time are deemed to be respected by people.
As a conclusion, we should really learn the value of punctuality and promptness as it would reflect the way we think, the way we work and the way we respond towards certain changes in our daily life. We should always, at all cost, be punctual and try not to put the burden of waiting to people and please do avoid procrastination. I would like again to quote the famous William Shakespeare “Better three hours too soon than a minute too late”. Also allow me to quote one of the best alternative band who called themselves Butterfingers “Better late than never”. However it would be better if we never late at all. Wouldn’t it be nice if everyone adhere to time and things would definitely proceed smoothly and hopefully flawlessly.
ps: This is actually my assignment which was sent to INTAN in order for me to complete my 6 months training. I just wanna put it on the internet as a momento to remind me what actually happened in the last 6 months. I lost 6 months of my life.
Having said that, there must be a blessing in disguise. I seriously hope so.
A longtime concern of mine has been the lack of appreciation regarding punctuality among Malaysian quality or habit of adhering to an appointed time and strict observance in keeping with prior agreed engagement. It seems that Malaysian has become too accustomed with the phrase of “Janji Melayu” that we are actually engulfed into a very sad state of tardiness.
This led us to the very basis of this article. Is there really a need for concern regarding the lack of punctuality? I am not making a simple generalization that Malaysians cannot be trusted when it comes to adhering to an appointed time, but frankly speaking, most Malaysians do not take the importance of being punctual seriously. The trouble with being punctual in Malaysia is that nobody' is there to appreciate it. Allow me to quote Gerald Barzan;
“Laugh and the world laughs with you, be prompt and you dine alone."
Having said that, there are Malaysians who value time highly. To them, promptitude is not only a duty, but is also a part of good manners, which is favorable to fortune, reputation, influence, and usefulness. Some even give it as their deliberate and solemn conviction that the individual who is habitually tardy in meeting an appointment will never be respected or successful in life. For businessmen, punctuality is the soul of business and one of the cardinal business virtues.
Lack of punctuality is a theft of someone else's time especially as an employee who is late for work but even as friends, where we have agreed to meet at a set time. The concept is simple; "If I have made an appointment with you, I owe you punctuality, I have no right to throw away your time, if I do my own. Such a simple concept but ironically too little Malaysians could adhere to it. Unfaithfulness in the keeping of an appointment is an act of clear dishonesty and we may as well borrow a person's money as his time.
Those who do not value time highly are actually those with thousands of missed opportunities. In this regard, Niccolo Machiavelli once said, "Tardiness often robs us opportunity, and the dispatch of our forces. The best-laid plans, the most important affairs, the fortunes of individuals, the weal of nations, honor, life itself, are daily sacrificed because somebody is 'behind time. There are men who always fail in whatever they undertake simply because they are 'behind time’. There are others who put off reformation year by year, till death seizes them; and they perish unrepentant, because for ever 'behind time.' Five minutes in a crisis is worth years. It is but a little period, yet it has often saved a fortune or redeemed a people. If there is one virtue that should be cultivated more than another by him who would succeed in life, it is punctuality.
Have we squandered opportunities due to our lack of punctuality? Let's take a look at the value in practicing punctuality. First let us look at the impact to ourselves. Certainly it will make us better persons. Lord Nelson was once quoted saying “I have always been a quarter of an hour before my time, and it has made a man of me”. It is an spoken perception regarding man's intellectual or moral character, if he was habitually unfaithful to his appointments.
As a civil servant, being punctual will definitely portray the image of a sensitive and responsible officer who would put the public needs as their number one priority in delivering such an outstanding service for the betterment of the nation as a whole. This would likely eliminate the most common perception that dealing with government officers would require a special level of patience as they would not adhere to appointment that was earlier set by them and it would take forever to complete a very simple task that could be done in just a matter of minutes.
Is it that hard to be a prompt person? Or how to be on time? It is really quite simple. Plan to be early, and start out early. Plan to arrive 15 minutes before any event begins. If these simple rules could be put into practice, surely it would marked a new beginning of a new breed of government officers that would bring Malaysia to a new unprecedented height by practicing good governance and delivering A class service to the public as well as their stakeholders.
I guess the most obvious reason on why Malaysian cannot be punctual is because of the well_known_trait_of procrastination. As one of the English philosopher once said “Procrastination is the thief of time”. As we procrastinate, we tend to take things for granted as when the time is due for submission or to deliver a service that is needed, there is a very high tendency that the output would be not to the level of it supposed to be.
Secondly, I believe that the level of sense of urgency really varies among Malaysian unlike the Japanese. Just look at the way we walk. We would be complacent enough to walk slowly without any sense of urgency at all! There some in Malaysia who cannot life with that kind of treatment towards time. For some time is money and every second wasted is like throwing your cash to the drains. A society with a high level sense of urgency like the Japanese would be really focusing on the core business and would not mixed it up with their personal life as this kind of society does not only respect time but the even treasure time.
In our journey to really transform Malaysia to become one of the most developed states by the year 2020, a Japanese_like society would accelerate our pace of development. A society that does not value punctuality will have no place at all in the years to come. On the larger scale, disrespect to time will mean inefficiency and unnecessary delay. This would be one of the major factors to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) to come to Malaysia. How can we attract investor and business minded people to Malaysia if the society is ignorant towards time and punctuality.
Another reason is that Malaysian has the propensity to forgive those who do not respect time. Though certain control mechanism to make sure government officers pay more attention to time, has been clearly laid out but yet the implementation still remains at status quo. Maybe, the real problem lies in us. Our attitude of not respecting people will end up with people not respecting us. Respect is earned and cannot be told and those who respect time are deemed to be respected by people.
As a conclusion, we should really learn the value of punctuality and promptness as it would reflect the way we think, the way we work and the way we respond towards certain changes in our daily life. We should always, at all cost, be punctual and try not to put the burden of waiting to people and please do avoid procrastination. I would like again to quote the famous William Shakespeare “Better three hours too soon than a minute too late”. Also allow me to quote one of the best alternative band who called themselves Butterfingers “Better late than never”. However it would be better if we never late at all. Wouldn’t it be nice if everyone adhere to time and things would definitely proceed smoothly and hopefully flawlessly.
ps: This is actually my assignment which was sent to INTAN in order for me to complete my 6 months training. I just wanna put it on the internet as a momento to remind me what actually happened in the last 6 months. I lost 6 months of my life.
Having said that, there must be a blessing in disguise. I seriously hope so.
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