kia-su vs kia-win

I had a conversation with a Singaporean earlier. He told me – Malaysian likes to say Singaporean kia-su (afraid of being a loser), however we Singaporean thinks that Malaysians kia-win (afraid of being winner). I was quite familiar with this term kia-win but never have a deep thought on its meaning. Then I asked him what does he mean by kia-win. He explained to me using his experience with his Malaysian employee A –

My friend – Can you please consider to switch to sales department because one of our colleague from that department quit. Your basic salary will remain and you will get additional commission from the sales target you achieved. Your working hour is more flexible and you don’t need to punch card every morning.

Employee A – Cannot la boss, I don’t have car…

My friend – We provide you company car. And you can use it anytime as long as you are in Singapore.

Employee A – Cannot la boss, I don’t have money to pump petrol…

My friend – Company will reimburse with official claim.

Employee A – Cannot la boss, I am not familiar with Singapore’s road...

My friend – You will be familiar after driving for a while.

Employee A – Cannot la boss, I don’t have Singapore driving license…

My friend – Then go get one.

Employee A – Cannot la boss, I’m not good in talking and socializing with customers…

My friend – We will provide you training.

Employee A – Cannot la… … …

My friend – Why don’t you just say you don’t want to accept the offer…

So does the employee sounds like afraid of getting a better offer? Or they are just trying to find excuses so that they can remain what they are? Alright may be you can say that employee is an office-oriented person who doesn’t like to do sales outside office so they are just trying to reject the offer by finding ridiculous excuses.

After I listen to his experience, I almost raised both my hands and legs to agree with him because I have similar experience with my students who always can’t do well in the exam –

Me – Can you please let me know if there is any problem during the lecture. Can you understand my lecture? Can we discuss and solve the problem?

Students – Sir, there are too many topics to study and we have too little time to study… and we have many other tests to study as well… (in fact, 2 tests for that week only).

Me (wondering) – I didn’t inform you about the test last minute. I already told you on week 1 that there will be a test on week 6. You have 6 weeks to prepare… and I had been reminding you about the test since 2 weeks before the test.

Me – Never mind, in that case, I break them down into smaller quizzes every week after lecture, which covers lesser topics.

Students – oooo…. kay…

They still didn’t do well in the quizzes every week, so I ask them what’s the problem again…

Students – We are not good in English, we know the answers but can’t write it out properly then it became wrong answer…

Me – Never mind, I give you multiple-choice instead of structured questions.
Students – oooo…. kay….

They still didn’t do well in the weekly multiple-choice quizzes, so I ask them what’s the problem again…

Students – Sir, after the lecture we can’t memorize so many new terms, how are we going to do well in the quiz right after the lecture?

Me – Never mind, I’m not assessing your ability to memorize. I’m assessing your understanding and your concept. Ok, if you think you can’t memorize or digest them in such a short time, I give you time to review and you are allowed to open your text book/notes when you are doing the quiz.

Students – oooo…. kay….

They still didn’t do well in the weekly open-book multiple-choice quiz, so I ask them what’s the problem again…

Students – Sir, we have only 10 minutes to do the quiz, that’s not enough, we need some time to think for the answer…

Me – Never mind, I give your more time (in fact, I wait until they give up themselves and submit their test paper) to do 7 multiple-choice questions and 1 short answer question. That’s more than 1 minute per question (MCQ).

They still didn’t do well in the time-extended weekly open-book multiple-choice quiz, so I ask them what’s the problem again…

Students – Sir, got two questions from last quiz I don’t know how to answer ler, you never teach before in the lecture… If you teach before I sure can answer correctly and sure can pass the quiz.

Me (thinking in my mind) – what should I do? They are our nation’s future… and they are trying their best to find ridiculous excuses for not able to achieve something. Whereas our neighbor, Singaporean kids are totally opposite – they try their best on every ridiculous way to achieve something. How great if the kids of two nations can meet and share their talent.

My friend’s saying is very true – Singaporean kids lose at the end (because of kia-su), Malaysian kid lose at the beginning (because of kia-win). So please, make a change.