AS I scrolled through my Facebook feed this afternoon, I was perplexed by the numerous posts sharing the same image – a picture depicting a man clad in a maroon blazer pinning down another man wearing a helmet.
Upon watching the viral video, it became evident that many of my Sabahan friends were seething with anger over an incident in Kuala Lumpur where a man reportedly from Sabah, employed as a delivery rider, was physically assaulted by an individual in a maroon blazer.
While it appears that both parties were at fault over the quarrel that led to the altercation, Sabahans directed most of their ire towards the man in the maroon blazer. It wasn’t solely due to his physical attack but largely because he persistently accused the rider of being a foreigner based on his spoken dialect, despite the rider’s insistence that he was Sabahan.
“Why is your language different? (kenapa bahasa kau lain?)” – this simple question was enough to infuriate virtually all Sabahans, especially those working in West Malaysia.
Today, in a show of solidarity with the delivery rider subjected to abuse in the viral video, law firm Hafarizam Wan & Aisha Mubarak stepped forward to advocate for the young man from Sabah.
A spokesman from the firm, Mohamad Hakim, confirmed its commitment to meet with the rider, known as Samir, tomorrow afternoon to discuss potential legal avenues for redress.
Mohamad Hakim expressed disappointment with the derogatory remarks made by the individual in the red blazer towards the rider, which were deemed to have deeply offended the people of Sabah.
Regarding the viral incident, Mohamad Hakim clarified that it transpired at the TRX building last Thursday evening when the involved rider was delivering an item to a female customer in the building’s main lobby.
He revealed that the altercation occurred after the female customer asked the rider to wait for a brief period, ultimately leading to the confrontation with the individual in the red blazer.
Why Sabahans took offence
Last year, Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor revealed that nearly 200,000 Sabahans were working in Peninsular Malaysia, not including their dependents. Nearly every Sabahan personally knows someone working in the peninsula.
Most of them were compelled to leave Sabah in search of better employment opportunities and wages.
Working in a foreign land far from home is never easy, particularly when faced with a slight language barrier.
This means that approximately 200,000 Sabahans, who have spoken “bahasa baku” their whole lives, have had to adapt and learn to converse in Malay with the “KL slang” or “bahasa KL” to assimilate into their new environment.
However, there are still instances in which people in West Malaysia do not readily acknowledge Sabahans as fellow Malaysians. It remains rather common for a Sabahan to be questioned, “How long have you been in Malaysia?” by individuals in West Malaysia.
The trials and tribulations endured by Sabahans working in West Malaysia over the years, along with their pent-up frustrations, have now exploded onto social media with the phrase: “Kenapa bahasa kau lain?”.
To those who might think that Sabahans are overreacting or overly sensitive regarding this viral video, I’d like to invite you to consider the following scenario:
Imagine residing in a state with limited job opportunities, necessitating a move to Sabah to secure a better income for your family. Yet, there are people in Sabah who question whether your state is truly a part of Malaysia, and you must learn “bahasa Sabah” to fit in. Then, out of the blue, someone accuses you of not being a local and utters, “Kenapa bahasa kau lain?”
That’s the wellspring of the rage, while the man in the maroon blazer unwittingly stepped on a landmine. – November 4, 2023
Rebecca Chong is a journalist at Scoop based in Sandakan