BY: DESMOND JUDE

There was a video that was once screened on a social media platform which revealed the countries of the world with the laziest people and, truly, Malaysia was at the top of the ten most laziest countries in the world.

Malaysians shouldn’t go into denial. While the credibility of the video may be questionable and doubted, there seems to be a grain of truth in its disclosure and the people of this country should definitely own up to the truth.

But how is our waning economy going to grow if the rakyat do not work hard, and at a time of global recession and the national economy sputtering and spewing, it is important for all in the country to work even harder.

Over a trivial reason, there is the declaration of a holiday, and if it falls close to the weekend, there is hardly a chance workers show up for work, as they take leave to extend their holidays, and head back to their hometowns.

There is a serious need to rethink the total number of holidays in this country, as it is a tremendous loss of man hours of productivity and the need to instil work ethics and a work culture now seems critical for those in the Malaysian workforce.

If nothing is done to undo this kind of “holiday mentality,” it will be only a matter of time when the nation starts to lag and postpone further the quest to be a First World nation as for sure our stripes have yet to be earned.

-THE MALAYSIA VOICE

** The views expressed on this opinion is of the writer and not the publisher