It is amazing that Forbes rated Malaysia as the fifth most friendliest country in the world. Forbes has listed the top ten most friendliest countries in the world according to expatriates and it is definitely an honour for Malaysia to be in the list along with other big names such as US and Australia.
First place goes to Bahrain. Second place goes to Canada and the third place goes to Australia. We know that most Malaysians prefer to migrate to Australia for education or work. Australians are indeed friendlier than Malaysians.
Going to the fourth place, we have our neighbour Thailand. Go to anywhere in Thailand and you will be greeted with a smile. A smile is always an indicator of how friendly you can be. This is why we have smile campaign in Malaysia. Remember the ‘smile’ advertisement on TV?
So Malaysia sits at the fifth place, which is not bad at all. Coming at number 6 is South Africa. Hong Kong comes in at the seventh place, and generally people from Hong Kong love to migrate to Canada (especially celebrities).
Another of our neighbour, Singapore comes in at the eighth place. It is nice to see that we beat Singapore in the most friendliest countries in the world.
The last two places goes to Spain and US respectively.
Which is your favourite country apart from Malaysia (unless if you are not Malaysian)?
Wow… I’m quite surprised by the findings.
Personally, I find Malaysian hospitality to be more biased towards the visitor’s ethnicity. Let’s face it, Malaysians still worship Caucasians and to an extent Eurasians.
I find most Malaysians to be biased against those of African and to a lesser degree Middle Eastern people.
Even more obvious is our near total disregard of fellow Malaysians regardless of ethnicity. Perhaps this is the 1 Malaysia concept that somehow got twisted where we’re suspicious of every Malaysian in equal terms… Hahahah!
Then again I might be wrong (and I pray that this is just a flaw in my general observation).
Well, this study is done among the “expatriates” so naturally, they think Malaysians are friendly. In our eyes, that is not the whole truth.
Like Azmeen, I am also surprised with the findings. So strange. A friend who traveled a lot compared Malaysia to Mumbai, which to him is one of the worst places to live for an expat.
I can only wish to have fellow Malaysians who can accept everyone here regardless of race, religion and even nationalities, live a harmonious life and treat each other with mutual respect.
Perhaps those involved in the survey did not use taxi service?…
I live in Ecuador and it is a wonderful country. Its people are so nice and kind, they will give you the most warming welcome. I have put together a helpful fact sheet, and also an article on Ecuadorian manners and customs