Are we nicer to foreigners than we are to our fellow Malaysians?

It?s Visit Malaysia Year 2007 and everyone is going all out to make sure our visitors feel welcome in our country. We all know it?s awesome to promote your own country on a world stage and what better way than to show it with some homegrown hospitality.
But here?s the clincher, when does hospitality become a biased attitude? Brood over this, you?re at a restaurant waiting for your food that?s taking forever, when a group of tourists stroll in. They order their food and in no time, their meal arrives. You on the other hand, who were there first, are still waiting for your food. Unfair? Idiotic? Ridiculous? Call it what you want but things like this have happened numerous times.
Okay, in all fairness maybe the steak that you ordered took a lot longer to cook compared to the salad that the tourist asked for. Then again the service in that particular restaurant could have been inefficient. To give them the benefit of the doubt, maybe some Malaysians feel that it is vital to please these foreigners, so that they don?t leave with a bad impression. Whatever the reason is, there will always be that nagging feeling that you got the ?local? version of hospitality.
Do we favour foreigners over our fellow Malaysians? Before you answer that question or place any bets with your friends, take a closer look at our test. To get to the bottom of this, we got our very own undercover ?Mat Salleh?, Malaysian Today staff Lee John, to walk on the streets of KL and work his magic on our locals. We also put senior writer Mia Amran through the same scenarios to see who Malaysians are more receptive to. Here?s what went down.

Scenario 1
Our ?foreigner? is lost; he is trying to find his way around KL and tries to get directions from some locals.
Taking on the same challenge, a ?local? tries her luck and makes her way to some people attempting to get them to give her directions.

Scene 1
Lee John: ?I stand there looking gormless and try and stop a passerby for directions. He pauses but is unable to help me...?

Scene 2
Lee John: ?I fare better on my second attempt. This guy actually stopped to help me and pointed me in the right direction.?

Scene 3
Lee John: ?This young lady stopped but was unable to help me as she didn?t know the directions I asked for. She did stop though so that counts for something.?

Scene 4
Mia: ?I chose to be on the phone so that I looked really lost! This guy was really helpful and gave me the directions for the two different places that I asked for. I almost clapped my hands in glee!?

Scenario 2
Playing an injured tourist with one leg in a bandage, the helpless Lee John continues his task. This time he tries to get his heavy luggage up a flight of stairs. The objective is to see if anyone would give him a hand.
With one of her ankles bandaged, Mia struggles with the same task.

Scene 1
Lee John: ?I positioned myself at the top of the stairs and then proceeded to make an ungainly descent. This nice man offered to carry my bag down for me and even carried it a few steps further from the foot of the steps. He passed with flying colours.?

Scene 2
Lee John: ?This guy was watching me make my way down when he offered to help. He not only carried my bag, he even let me lean on him for support! Helpful indeed.?

Scene 3
Mia: ?This was kind of funny. As you can tell, there were two guys behind me but I guess they were engrossed in their conversation. They didn?t offer to help but from the top of the stairs, these two kind girls asked me if i needed any assistance. I certainly did so they did. Well done, girls!?

Scene 4
Mia: ?Failure!! I was struggling to carry my bag up and not one, not two but three people passed me by and didn?t offer their services... sigh.?

Conclusion
In general, Malaysians are pretty shy people - but in spite of that most of them stepped up and gave our two actors a hand. This shows that we help everyone, not only foreigners. It just takes a while for some of us to come up and actually offer assistance. It doesn?t mean we don?t care.