One thing Malaysians lack is the disabilty to see past sarcasm and new ideas. Things are taken too seriously and personally. Most of us are brought up where 'image' (or the Cantonese call 'Mien'/Face) is extremely important. Thus, when one's believe/perception is questioned, his defensive mechanism just activates without any grasp of the situation which will eventually lead to a heated argument instead of an open discussion where there are gives and takes.

It is due to this that regardless of what another says, one will always stick to his guns and ridicule other people's ideas without even using a single grey cell. Admitting an error is seen as a sin.