A heartfelt post by an Indian tourist has gone viral after he shared his honest impressions of Kuala Lumpur, saying it made him reflect on the state of civic sense and governance in India.
The post, titled “Just back from Kuala Lumpur and I’m ashamed”, has received over 5.2k upvotes at press time and sparked a mix of agreement and debate online.
Had low expectations before trip
The traveller explained that the trip to Malaysia was unexpected, as his original plan to visit Vietnam was cancelled due to heavy rain.
We went on an unplanned vacation to Malaysia… and to be frank, had very low expectations,” he wrote.
However, upon landing in Kuala Lumpur, he was stunned.
“The KL city looked very well planned and organized, no potholes on roads, no politicians’ photo or banners, cleanliness everywhere, top class civic sense, great quality of life, clean air and helpful people,” he shared.
He also admitted to feeling conflicted.
I have always advocated against the idea of Indians settling abroad but suddenly I felt bad for those foreigners who visit India for vacations or the NRIs who have to return to India due to various reasons.”
The user went on to criticise the Indian public’s low expectations of governance.
“Even though we have all the resources, the potential to be great, but we struggle for basic amenities…”
“We are too distracted among ourselves over petty issues and find happiness and joy in our IPL or T20 wins, worshipping celebrities or celebrating our favourite politician and never holding them accountable.”
In his post, he also voiced frustration with how many Indians have become accustomed to low standards from government bodies, despite the country’s potential. He felt that public attention was often diverted by sports and celebrities instead of holding leaders accountable.
He ended the post by expressing doubt about improvement. “Don’t wanna be all negative but honestly, I have kind of lost hope and seeing the present circumstances, the goal looks very far away.”
Netizens respond with mixed views
The comment section quickly filled with opinions, both supportive and critical.
One Redditor pointed out, “KL is supposed to be one of the more chaotic cities. You should visit Tokyo to get a sense of what clean means, even with a large population burden.”
Another wrote, “South East Asia emphasizes on cleanliness a lot in their culture […] Indians constantly keep their homes clean but treat any place other than their house as complete garbage dumps.”
One user brought up economic context: “Malaysia’s per capita GDP is more than 5 times that of India. If you know this, then KL won’t come as a surprise.”
Another added, “But you know what will be a real shocker? Watch this video of Nairobi, Kenya — a country which has lower per capita GDP. Tell me which Indian city looks like this.”
Some simply agreed with the post: “Yes, I have been once to KL and it is a very planned city.”
