Trust

Due to the fact that the system in Australia acts on the presumption of trust, many things can be done on the phone or online via www. However as many Australians have got this built into their personal system, there is a higher tendency for them to give others the benefit of the doubt and trust the other person more.

This is directly opposite to those of us in Asia, where trust must be earned over a longer duration of time. A simple example is getting documents or identity certified for Government or other applications. In Malaysia for example the identity card is of utmost important, without one, one is nobody. Getting things done means carting along loads of documents, forms and getting it certified etc. before even submitting the application and then there is the vetting process.

Today I just found out my company got cheated over a credit card scam from Nigeria. I would have thought that these Nigerian would have attempted to scam those in Asia or so, but I guess choosing someone from a more trustworthy society may be easier given that people here are more trusting that those from Asia.

Please don't get me wrong, there are good and bad in every society. We just have to exercise caution everywhere regardless of our presumption!