Okay-lah

Read this from an article today featuring Huzir Sulaiman and Claire Wong whom I shot today at the 80th birthday party of former Primary Industries Ministry Secretary General, Tan Sri G.K. Rama Iyer at his house in Ampang.

Huzir started teaching his playwriting class at NUS in 2007, and since then, about 70 students have passed through the doors of his classroom.


One of them is Laremy Lee, 29, who was from his first batch of playwriting students. Two of Lee's plays, Radio Silence and Full Tank, have been staged by Singapore theatre company Wild Rice.


Lee, now a teacher, continues to hold Huzir in high esteem. He says: 'Huzir always called us playwrights long before we even started believing we were artists. The respect he accorded us helped us to respect ourselves and our own abilities.'


He adds: 'One of Huzir's favourite feedback phrases is 'okay lah'. When he first did that, I thought to myself, 'Huh? What does 'okay lah' mean? How is it supposed to help me improve?' 'But after a while, I realised that 'okay lah' meant just that - okay lah, keep going, keep doing what you're doing. Because it's not that the writing isn't good, there just wasn't a need to pad the feedback with superfluous praise.'


source

So a good way to not be superfluous as a Malaysian - is to just say Okay lah.

Cheers !