half-past-six en · ADJ
Etymology
Unknown.
Meanings
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(Malaysia, Singapore, colloquial) Careless; shoddy.
A RESPECTABLE statesman once said if a country surrenders its sovereignty, it may become a half-past-six country.
2018 July 21, Datuk Abu Bakar Abdul Hamid, “Staying clear of the half-past-six conundrum”, in The New Straits Times:Hence, its ill-repute of shoddiness and unreliability, as one is criticised for “half-past six work” or an organisation being labelled as a “half-past six company.”
2005, David Leo, Life's so like dat, illustrated edition, Pagesetters Services, →ISBN, page 108:Lately there has been a lot of talk by politicians about our being a “half-past-six” nation.
2006 May 12, “What is ‘half-past-six’?”, in The Star:Nah...for such shoddy half past six work...i will stick to my own camera, Tey or Snap-Attack.com!
2010 June 29, Lim Ee-Van, “What God Made, Human Must Not Divide”, in Tristupe (blog), archived from the original on 12 Sep 2016:
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(Malaysia, Singapore, colloquial) Incompetent.
Whatever Mahathir's shortcomings were, he cannot be accused of being a half-past six leader. The problem with Pak Lah[…]is that all the kings’ horses and all the kings’ men cannot prove that he is not one.
2006 June 15, pluto, “mkl= Pak Lah must prove he’s not ‘half-past six”, in soc.culture.malaysia (Usenet):