Get your scepticism on

Check before you share: Beware the mis-characterisations of very simple events as gospel, like the international convention that erroneously became a threat to sovereignty.

SOMETIMES when I read the horrific toxic messages that go around WhatsApp groups, I have to wonder about my people. Do we enjoy being whipped up into agitation? Do we find reading bad news pleasurable? Is it really blissful to wallow in ignorance? Don’t we mind being manipulated by irresponsible people?

I once came across an old handbook of “bazaar Malay” produced by the British Allied Land Forces in 1945 as they prepared to return to Malaya after the Japanese occupation ended. Besides the instructions on how to speak simple Malay, albeit not always grammatically or pronounced correctly, there are guides to “knowing Malays”. It seems that Malays are friendly “mannered” people who are quite happy to help, “provided they are not intimidated, shouted at or insulted”.