Inconsiderate parents at Sam Tet Primary

I wonder if it's a Malaysian mentality or Asian mentality. Whatever it is , it's plain selfish and inconsiderate.

Everyday I have to endure the traffic congestion at my son's primary school when I send him to and then fetch him home from school. After school, I tend to go 20 minutes earlier to find a parking spot to wait for him.

Therein lies the demonstration of the inconsiderate behaviour of some Malaysian drivers.

Parking space is a rare commodity around the school. Being ingenious (by necessity), most parents picking up their sons will squeeze their cars into multiple rows along the narrow road in front of the school, still allowing one narrow lane for vehicles to drive through. Now, there is a tiny rectangular parking lot right in front of the school and abandoned cinema (which only heaven knows why such a building at such a prime location has been allowed to fall into such a decrepit state - only the Ipoh Town Council would know) which can accommodate 3 rows of carefully parked cars (about 20 cars in total).

I just cannot comprehend why some parents parking in this rectangular area would deliberately place their cars at an odd angle, thus preventing the formation of 3 rows needed to optimize the use of space. Sometimes, instead of accommodating 20 cars, only 12 cars or so can fit into the area.

Today was a prime example. A car entered the rectangular area just before me, and 2 rows had already been formed on the right and left, with 2 spaces left in the right-most row. I expected the lady to move straight through the empty middle space to form the last row. Instead, she placed her car midway between the right row and the empty middle row, obstructing my passage and laying waste to a good 10 parking spots in the middle row. I sounded my horn when she alighted from her car and spoke to her to move her car into the middle. She was reluctant but fortunately there was another parent standing nearby who immediately supported my suggestion and asked the lady to move her car. Faced with such objection, she got back into her car and formed the 3rd row, but was only willing to move forward a few spaces, when she could have driven right to the end of the rectangle. She would not budge further. I was not in the mood for further fight today, as I had to see my son's teacher.

How do our children learn good ethics and civic mindedness from their parents when the very parents tasked with this important duty themselves lack the necessary social manners?