half-past-six

Presumably related to "half past six" meaning 6:30 a.m. or p.m. (0630 or 1830), but the origin and explanation is unknown; speculations exist online.

half-past-six (Malaysia, Singapore, Singlish, colloquial)

1. Careless; shoddy.
   • 2005, David Leo, Life's so like dat‎, illustrated edition, Pagesetters Services, →ISBN, page 108:

     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.”

   • 2006 May 12, “What is ‘half-past-six’?”, in The Star:

     Lately there has been a lot of talk by politicians about our being a “half-past-six” nation.

   • 2010 June 29, Lim Ee-Van, “What God Made, Human Must Not Divide”, in Tristupe‎ (blog), archived from the original on 12 September 2016:

     Nah...for such shoddy half past six work...i will stick to my own camera, Tey or Snap-Attack.com!

   • 2018 July 21, Datuk Abu Bakar Abdul Hamid, “Staying clear of the half-past-six conundrum”, in The New Straits Times:

     A RESPECTABLE statesman once said if a country surrenders its sovereignty, it may become a half-past-six country.

2. Incompetent.
   • 2006 June 15, pluto, “mkl= Pak Lah must prove he’s not ‘half-past six”, in soc.culture.malaysia (Usenet):

     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.

• half past