I was sitting in front of my computer reading with amusement M. Bakri Musa 'ranting' about the deragotary attitude of Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad to the Malays. The reason for the ranting, if I may presume, lies in the cultural differences between Asians and Americans.

As I have been living in America for quite some time, I think it is worth pointing them out. Here, I shall use the analogy of parents to leaders, and leaders can be thought of as parents of a nation. Just by watching the sitcoms on television, we can see that American parents oftentimes discuss matters rationally with their children, and if the child achieves something noteworthy, they will pat the child on their back and lavish them with praise. As my sister who has been living in England for some time observed, "Americans are so full of public displays of affection in every occasion".

Would Bush ever dare to scold the American public? No, if he did he would be out of office faster than a speeding bullet. Asians, on the other hand, have a different parenting method as my political economy professor pointed out — the method of shame.

They will shame their children by pointing out what is wrong in order to set them straight. Granted, it does sound like a psychotic reverse psychology method. Rarely do they lavish them with praise, for fear the child will be content and not strive harder.

In Dr M's case, he exemplified the typical Asian parent. He was shaming the Malays to whip them into shape. Despite Dr M's scolding, any Malaysian would be blind not to see the development that the country has achieved under his tutelage. Would he sound better if he gave a speech that was full of praising monologues? It totally does not sound like his personality. I would think aliens have taken over his body.

We could further on do a comparative analysis on which method has more merit, but the point is that ultimately parents care a lot and want the best for their children. That is what Bakri failed to notice in his article before assuming the role of the antagonistic party. Before coming up with counter arguments in any situation, it is best that we should always sit back and try to understand where the other party is coming from.