OF all the things Malaysians have done in foreign countries, even to the point of renting an AirBnB for two and ending up with five, it is a great embarrassment that we had three Malaysians throwing a “monkey tantrum” in Osaka.

The reason I call this a monkey tantrum is because no human being would use excrement as a sign of rage, and I would think even the wild monkeys of Japan which uses their hot springs would know better.

That being said, we need to have a proper discussion about Malaysians giving the country a bad name.

Of course, we have enough politicians doing so just by opening their mouths in Parliament, yet those are examples of just how dumb we ourselves can get by continually getting them into parliament in the first place.

The jeering of Singapore as dogs during the SEA Games football match and even beating up Myanmar’s football supporters – this isn’t the first time our football enthusiasts have gone bonkers, if anyone remembers 2011 and Chelsea’s Yossi Benayoun being jeered at for being an Israeli.

And then there was the throwing of flares in 2015 during the World Cup qualifier match between Malaysia and Saudi Arabia in Shah Alam stadium.

It is good that the SEA Games hosting committee has apologised for the many snafus, including getting the flag of Indonesia and even Brunei wrong, and having unlicensed bus drivers who are actually thieves, and even dealing with buses getting into accidents and causing injury to athletes.

Yet at the same time, it does make me wonder if we have a bunch of organising companies who have never seen flags, or perhaps never even used Google properly to seek out proper flags. Heck, this is one time I wouldn’t have minded people copying content from Wikipedia.

In lieu of that, it needs to be said that the companies contracted have caused a minor diplomatic incident, and perhaps may require that they pay back the Ministry of Youth and Sports their deposits due to the incident – but I won’t hold my breath.

At the same time, those who saw the apology drafted by members in the Foreign Ministry might be baffled as to how our own civil servants can misspell not only the name of the Indonesian Sports Minister, but even that of our own minister.

Perhaps it was a case of nerves and urgency, but professionalism dictates you at least get the names right, particularly when you are the Ministry dealing with connections across the world.

All this being said, there is a need to ask ourselves if we are grooming a future generation of Malaysians that are abrasive, uncouth, perhaps even downright violent and hostile to foreigners as well as those of differing beliefs within Malaysia and out on the international level.

The reason this question pops up is because social media shows us that Malaysians use anonymity to voice out perhaps the worst unfiltered sides of their being, to the point that even our SEA Games gold medal gymnast still gets whacked for not wearing a headscarf.

That’s right, they are at it again, even now.

So perhaps we need to ask ourselves – what the heck did we do to have a population that is so damned rude and unfiltered?

Is it the parents? Is it the fact of online anonymity?

Is it some form of delusional God-complex that people have, believing they are invincible and are in the right, even if it includes death threats, rape threats, beating up Burmese people and even throwing flares and flip flops for fifty bucks apiece?

Of course, politicians and government make great scapegoats for all these happenings, but at the same time, have we let loose a future generation of kids and adults who haven’t a care in the world for carrying an image or a brand of not just the nation, but their families and forefathers?

Are we so detached from the future generation to the point that individualism has made kids and teenagers, legally minors, responsible for their own actions without parents intervening, or even caring?

Has society evolved to the point that we would rather turn away and mumble ‘not my circus, not my monkeys’?

Personally, I do not have the slightest idea when we evolved to the point that we are willing to accept mediocrity and boorish acts in the name of the nation. – August 25, 2017.

* Hafidz loves to ruffle feathers and believes in the EA Games tag line of challenging everything. Most times, he represents the Devil’s Advocate on multiple issues.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.