I recently attended this seminar on ‘Islamic Financial Planning and Wealth Management' held at the Sime Darby Convention Centre. The deputy minister concerned arrived early and entered the hall on time.

But the participants, mainly Malaysians, were still wandering around in the foyer despite loudspeaker reminders that the event was about to start. Many came in late for the registration and many were still having coffee when the deputy minister arrived.

Foreign participants took the reminders seriously and most of them were already in the hall much earlier than the expected start time.

Malaysian participants were also the first ones to rush out for coffee-breaks and lunch but they had to be reminded numerous times to be back in the hall on time. Most of the programmes never started on time due to participants delaying their entry into the meeting hall.

Most of the speakers were industry leaders and most of them were always on time but instead had to wait for participants to enter the hall.

There was also the usual 'Malaysian' rush for food and drinks. And as usual, many dozed off after lunch and many went in and out of the halls frequently to answer or make mobile phone calls.

Many participants were also busy with SMS-ing while in the hall and did not concentrate on the proceedings. Some even took calls while in the hall while some were seen chatting away with other participants.

On the second day, the same thing happened and the hall was only 60 percent full for the afternoon session although the lunch were well-attended. I was wondering if the participants were more interested in the food rather than the seminar’s programmes which cost each participant a thousand ringgit. I guess these guilty ones are those sponsored by their employers.

I suggest that future seminar organisers do away with all the coffee-breaks as it only slows down the proceedings and instead only provide toilet-breaks. Lunch should comprise simple and healthy meals rather than a full blown Malaysian-style lunch that only helps to induce sleep.

Nothing gets done on time in this country be it in the government or in the private sector as the employees have poor discipline and a poor attitude towards work. They generally have no respect for time especially other people's time.

In Malaysia, there is a tendency to blame everything on the government and leaders. But from my experience, the majority of government leaders are generally on time for functions.

Malaysians have to realise that they are equally to blame for their lack of discipline, tardiness and bad behaviour which eventually leads to lower productivity, a poor quality of work and services and also a lack of competitiveness.

I can only foresee that future generations will be behaving the same since nothing is being done to tackle this simple but yet very important matter. Shameful.