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By Mihar Dias August 2025
A little book called The One Minute Manager once suggested a radical idea: instead of waiting to scold people when they mess up, try catching them doing something right.
Fast forward to Merdeka month in Malaysia. What do we usually see? Politicians catching each other — or us — doing “wrong”: a Jalur Gemilang hung upside down at a petrol station, a flag slightly faded on a lorry, a bunting printed in the wrong shade of blue. Cue outrage, police reports, and demands for public apologies.
Just last week, Parliament even heard about RM20 million being spent on a new Tabung Haji logo that nobody asked for — apparently, fonts and colour palettes matter more than feeding the poor.
Meanwhile, real life is happening all around them.
Instead of chasing petty mistakes, let’s catch Malaysians doing good. Because the truth is, that’s what really keeps this country alive:
• Catch the youth groups handing out meals to the homeless on a Friday night with no cameras around.
• Catch the kampung folks pooling their savings to support a struggling family after the father lost his job.
• Catch the retirees spending their mornings teaching kids in the taman how to read.
• Catch the students organising a beach clean-up when they could have been at a café scrolling TikTok.
• Catch the neighbour who checks in on the elderly makcik living alone, making sure she eats and takes her medicine.
• Catch the volunteers who show up after a flood, clearing mud out of homes that aren’t even theirs.
But you won’t see these acts debated in Parliament or trending on Twitter. Outrage sells better than kindness, and politicians know that playing flag police, logo inspectors, or culture wardens gets them more airtime than rolling up their sleeves.
Yet Malaysia is not defined by who hung a flag upside down or whose cake used the “wrong” colours.
Malaysia is defined by its people — ordinary folks who quietly choose generosity over selfishness, patience over anger, and community over cynicism.
So this August, don’t just wave a flag. Catch someone doing good. Perhaps, better still — be the one who gets caught.
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