The problem with Manglish

This is a continuation of my previous post on "The accident".

I've engaged in a tele conversation with this guy who is supposed to be "friend" of the lady whose car banged into mine on last Tuesday, and as what i've mentioned in the previous post, he is a soft spoken gentlemen who had apologized sincerely on behalf of the lady, of which i felt it was a good gesture but unnecessary. After the call, i sent out the repairment invoice and told myself to be patient while waiting for them to bank in the cash.

After 3 days of waiting, i lose my patience and went on sms-ed the lady, but still in a very polite manner, whether she received the email of which i've sent to her "friend" and if yes kindly send me an acknowledgment sms after bank in the cash. What surprised me is that she replied and asked me to share the bill, which means 50:50 for both parties. I called her up immediately and told her although it wasn't a fat bill and it doesn't cost me that much if i'm sharing the bill with her, however for me its not so much of a money matter, but more of standing up for my own principal as it was a clear cut whereby the accident resulted from her own careless driving, and i shouldn't be punished for her fault. Strictly speaking, i've incurred unnecessary troubles to send the car for repair, plus my car value depreciated and its only fair if she pay the price for the consequences of her act as well.

I explained to her the repairment cost was fair and she can even come with me to the workshop to get more clarification on the breakdown of the cost. That's when suddenly she changed her 'requesting' mode to rude mode. She said frankly this does not need not anymore physical interaction and there is no need for face to face meeting, in an essence "i don't want to see your face".

The whole issue is not the fact that she had requested for me to share the bill (she can try her luck and of course i have the right to refuse as well), but its her attitude and the way she speak, in specific, her manglish. Frankly, this is a serious negotiation process and is it that difficult to show a bit of respect to the other party by using proper English? Sentence like: "please lah, no need for us to meet up", "ha? its small amount, like that also cannot...." can be extremely annoying, if you know what i mean. She was rude, demanding and throughout the entire interaction, no words of sorry was spoken. At one point i need to stop her from bubbling on, and told her there is no need for her to be rude.

Since when did all these terms such as -lah and meh are ubiquitously used in the Malaysian lexicon?

Before Phua Chu Kang started the whole trend of speaking Singlish/Manglish, frankly speaking there is no words defined for such mis conduct of language, as its just simply either good English or bad English. Being a Malaysian myself, to be truth, i neither speak perfectly polished English, nor i'm 100% off the Manglish speaking trend as well. As bad as it sound, Manglish is the official language during the mamak session and speaking distorted English among circle of friends somehow make perfect sense. However, my point is in order to communicate effectively and express ourselves well, shouldn't we try to speak proper English in a serious conversation?

I'm not condoning the use of Manglish, nor i'm proud with the so called culture. Just because we cant control ourselves from speaking English in improper vocab and grammar, doesnt mean that we can justify it in the name of "Malaysian culture".

If you like your words to be taken seriously, please speak proper English.

(Side Track: I received a complain from Perodua Car Service Centre this morning saying that a lady called up and asking why did the bill cost so much, she was rude and refuse to identify herself. The attendants in charge thought that the caller was me and keep addressing her as "Miss Ong" (thats me), of which they later found out that the caller wasnt me of course.For this, i'm glad that i've sent my car to the proper service centre to repair and not some Ah Beng or Ah Wong workshop, all the records were computerized and non disputable, hence there is no way for the lady to dismiss me.)