Bad ads

There is a bunch of ads making the rounds on the TV channels, promoting the use of the national language. The purpose is all good, I guess...but the ads make me want to gag :s

In each ad, there is someone who asks for information in a language other than BM. And the person asked would stare blankly at the person who's asking. Until someone else asks the same question in BM...then he would answer. The message being that you should only speak BM in Malaysia.

What happened to advertising multi-culturalism? On the radio there were some other ads (I don't think I've heard them recently though) "bragging" about Malaysians being "diverse", being able to speak several different languages. (those were aired so often that I got tired of them...does "Macha, ini nasi kerabu berapa harga?" ring any bells? Or "You speak so many languages, man!" "Of course, I'm Malaysian!")

Not to say that I like any of those ads. But I could at least understand the reasoning behind those radio ones. As for these new ones on TV...I can only say that it is plain rude of those so-called "nationalistic-people-who-will-only-reply-if-you-speak-BM". If they wanted to speak BM, they could have done so. Even if they were spoken to in another language. Even if they didn't understand the language they were spoken to in. They could have just said, "Maaf, saya tak faham." Isn't that what it means to be polite? (or even "Sila guna Bahasa Malaysia" if they wanted to continue being stuck-up :P )

And they dare complain that the French are stuck-up when they don't reply unless if you speak French. They are teaching the same thing to young children with these ads.