Subservient/Servile Written Malay
The differing tone of formal written English and Malay.
Formal and well-written English tends to be assertive, and imperative.
Contrastingly, formal and well-written Malay tends to be subservient in tenor, and almost servile (for lack of a better word).
Case in point: your letters. It'll be strewn with:
"...saya dengan rendah dirinya"
"...saya dengan segala hormatnya"
"...saya mengambil kesempatan ini untuk merakamkan setinggi-tinggi penghargaan"
"...kami mengucapkan ribuan terima kasih"
Formal Malay can sound like ritualized grovelling. It is quite the cultural difference, compared to English. Sometimes I wonder if such language is even persuasive at all, especially when one must deal with uncaring authorities.