Malaysian social media users are having a field day over a viral episode of an elderly Malay man slapping a non-Muslim for eating in public during Ramadan, injecting a note of levity into a situation fraught with racial undertones.
Advertisement
A retired civil servant, 65, was charged on Wednesday with slapping an ethnic Chinese man during a confrontation at a convenience store in southern Johor state on Sunday.
Videos went viral of the elderly man berating the 21-year-old for eating in public and demanding that he hand over his identity card to prove he was not a Muslim breaking his fast. The videos did not show the assault.
Social media pounced on the slap bandwagon – especially non-Muslims from Sabah and Sarawak states on Malaysian Borneo who say they regularly get mistaken for Malays.
A Facebook post by Verdi Kornelis Omjai, shared over 1,200 times since Thursday, showed him sitting at a coffee shop with his identity card placed on the table as he prepares to tuck into his food.
Advertisement
“[Identity card] ready on the table … worried suddenly I get slapped from behind for not fasting,” read the caption to the picture of the Sabah native looking mock concerned as he starts his meal.