Do Malaysians live on trees? Apparently we do, according to comment made last year by a well-known US television personality which certainly got many Malaysians riled up. Social media was ablaze of course with the usual fury.

Listen, I’m not trying to score cheap points by regurgitating an old story which, after all, was based on even older stories of the primitive conditions that Malaysians live in. If you’re old enough, you’d be familiar with this trope.

Were you offended when you heard such stories then? I bet many of you were, and your famous Malaysian laser mouth and inventiveness in throwing shades and insults would’ve shone through. Malaysian Boleh indeed!

But things have changed. Our tourism business, especially after Covid, has truly taken off. We’ve decisively overtaken Thailand, the perennial tourism leader of Southeast Asia in terms of foreign tourist arrivals, and we are likely to stay number one for quite a while yet.

Malaysia is now both cool and hot for foreign tourists who have just discovered Malaysia and aren’t shy in talking about it. To be honest, I enjoy watching their joy and wonder with good old Malaysia.

There are copious amounts of social media posts on how great our food is, how developed our cities and infrastructure are, how cheap everything is compared to places such as Europe and the US etc.

And, of course, how friendly our people are. Malaysians of all ages and backgrounds do treat strangers very well, often with respect and heart-felt hospitality. That’s part of our culture, even if at times we don’t treat fellow Malaysians with the same love and courtesy.

There are occasional posts complaining that Malaysians aren’t as warm as the Thais or the Filipinos. But such sentiments are often challenged by many Malaysians and often other tourists too, at times vehemently so.

Not too hot, not too cold

The sentiment most often expressed by Malaysians is this: we’re not as effusive and excitable and obsequious as some of our neighbours, but there are good reasons for it, and we’re OK with those reasons.

Malaysians would say to John (or Mary, or Luigi or Mr. Kim or Shintaro-san) that we are not a cold, unfriendly people; it’s just that in our country we see foreigners as just normal people, not much different from us.

We don’t see you as walking ATMs to be hassled and swarmed and perhaps scammed of a few dollars. Welcome to our country, enjoy our hospitality and what we have to offer, but don’t expect too much sucking up. We’re fine.

I like that argument because it’s true. We’ve come a long way from the days when our “masters”, the “orang puteh”, were a few classes above us and demanded lots of respect and pandering.

Guess who’s coming to lunch

I remember once bringing home for lunch a group of my staff from the multinational company where we worked. Among my staff was a young American man who had come to Malaysia to get some global experience, whatever that was (perhaps picking up skills in tree climbing?).

He was a few levels below me in the office totem pole. Yet my late mother, who was so happy to play host to the group, came to ask me, with a worried face, had “Tuan” (“master”) eaten?

Master indeed. But to be fair to her, she was from another generation altogether, and had grown up in an environment where everything white – and most things foreign – were unquestionably better than anything and anybody local.

We have mostly got over this inferiority complex, and then some! Even until a few years ago, social media posts about Malaysia were full of Malaysians being defensive against attacks from our neighbours – a fair assumption I make about their origin given the anonymity of social media.

Thais – and I’m making some reasonable assumption here – would say Malaysia is boring, Indonesians would say we copy their cuisine, and of course Singaporeans would say we’re corrupt and backwards.

Putting ourselves down

Nowadays, however, when foreigners praise Malaysia, I don’t see too many of these attacks – and the inevitable defence – any more. What I see instead is a unique Malaysian behaviour of talking down our own country, presumably as an act of gatekeeping.

And perhaps being sarcastic too, which Malaysians are quite good at. The most common gatekeeping comment is a plea to stay away from Malaysia because we all live on trees, often coupled with stories about carnivorous wild animals and the general backwardness of our country and people.

I don’t see any other people talking themselves down this hard. I can sense that behind some of those comments lies some uneasiness about the effects of excessive tourism on our own quality of life.

That’s fair. If you open yourself up too much for tourists to come in and “enjoy” your country, bad things can happen. Look at Bali, which is beginning to lose some of its lustre and charm because of over-tourism. And the same with many parts of Thailand such as Phuket and Pattaya.

But realistically we’re quite far from those extremes. We’ve a diversified economy of oil and gas and manufacturing and even high-tech as massive contributors to our wealth. We’re not as dependent on the tourism dollar as some of our neighbours are.

A moveable feast

We also have a wide and varied range of offerings for tourists, from ultra-modern cities to historic places to amazing beaches and tropical jungles and remote islands.

We have food and culture and a diversity that not many other destinations can compete with, and a safe and welcoming environment too.

We’re also more familiar with foreigners, dating back to colonial days and to decades of trade and business with them on everything from tin and rubber and timber to oil and gas and high tech semiconductors and electronics.

We’re big enough in fact for some young “Tuan” from the US to come and try to learn and build a career – and sample my mother’s brilliant cooking!

But over and above everything, it’s a sign that Malaysians have become a much more confident people. We’ve heard enough from many outsiders about how great our country and people are, and we ourselves have travelled enough to know we’re not too shabby in comparison.

It’s a funny business

We know that many of the older gold standards aren’t faring so well against younger nations in this fast-changing world. In spite of the global challenges – erratic superpowers, major wars and even genocides – the current generation of Malaysians – and I’m certainly one of them – are living a much better life than their parents.

So, we’re obviously proud and happy with the recognition by these visitors, but due to our modesty, level-headedness and in no small measure a wicked sense of humour, we don’t get into chest-thumping bragging fights with our detractors.

Before they could even begin to put us down, we’d be doing it ourselves. Don’t come to our country! We’re poor! It’s not safe! You won’t enjoy sleeping on trees or being eaten by crocodiles!

And of course, as in any family squabbles amongst siblings, we’d be telling those foreigners to go to Indonesia or Singapore or Thailand or the Philippines instead. It doesn’t seem to work.

But still, in the spirit of being a good Malaysian, I say this to you all: we live on trees! Our huts are crawling with snakes! Don’t come to Malaysia! All that stuff about Visit Malaysia Year 2026 and “Malaysia, Truly Asia” – they’re all lies!

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.