Mahathir's description of Malaysia as a 'half-past-six' country has intrigued a reader and sent him on a search for the origin and meaning of the expression.

Tiga Suku: Tun Mahathir's description of Malaysia as a 'half-past-six' country intrigued me and sent me on a search for the origin and meaning of the expression. A quick Internet search yielded two results:

1. The Double Tongued Word Wrester Dictionary, (which describes itself as a 'growing lexicon of fringe English, focusing on slang, jargon and more..." ) has this definition: half-past-six - adj. bad, shoddy, slipshod.