On December 19, Facebook user Taufiq Istafan posted a video he took on a bus of a heated argument between two men that was threatening to get even more out of hand. All because a young Malay guy accidentally pushed past a Chinese man on his way to the upper deck. Even though the young man apologised, the Chinese man took it way out of hand, hurling racial insults, specifically calling the young man a “shit Malay” multiple times.
We are seeing more and more videos or stories like this on local news. People being mean, rude and disrespectful to their fellow man. What happened to us? Have we lost our manners (or marbles) entirely? Is it really worth it to pick fights over the tiniest of things?
For the Chinese man on the video, it apparently was.
The Facebook post by Istafan includes a video of an argument on bus 190 between two men, and later on the video, a young man in yellow joins the scene, trying to stop the tiff from progressing into a full-blown fight.
Check out the post and the video:
I was in bus 190 and this incident happens. The young malay man in yellow accidentally knocked on the chinese man when going up to the upper deck. He had apologised profusely, but the chinese man do not accept it and becomes aggressive. He keep saying "shit malay" multiple times.The malay man wearing cap then stood up to defend and stop the chinese man from saying racist remarks. And he answered back, "I only refer to him specifically (shit malay). I never said all malay what!"When they are almost into a fight, the young malay man in yellow tried to calm both of them. Shortly after that, he sit beside the chinese man to apologise and calmly settle this matter, but the chinese man shouted back at him "fuck off". That scene was not recorded as I thought that everything was settled.
Posted by Taufiq Istafan on Wednesday, 19 December 2018
Istafan said that this is what happened before he started filming: A young Malay man (the one in yellow) was heading towards the upper deck. On his way, he accidentally knocked into a Chinese man. The young guy “apologised profusely”, but the Chinese man refused to accept his apology and quickly became aggressive, apparently calling the young guy a “shit Malay” many times.
Another passenger, also a Malay man (the one in the cap), stood up to confront the Chinese man and call him out on his racist remarks. It is at this point that Istafan began to film the incident.
The Chinese man defended himself, saying that he was only referring to the young guy when he said “shit Malay” and not to all Malays.
The video shows the Chinese man becoming more and more aggressive, pointing his finger in the other man’s face to boot. The man in the cap, obviously trying to defend the young guy (and all Malays everywhere), started to lose his cool as well.
Suddenly, we see the young guy in the yellow shirt for the first time on the video. Though the initial insults were about him, he took on the role of peace-keeper and was trying to break up the fight between the two men.
The Chinese guy could be heard repeatedly challenging the man in the cap to a fight. The young guy managed to get in between them, and the man in the cap left and got off the bus.
The young Malay guy was clearly trying to make amends and calm the Chinese man down, even sitting next to him in an attempt to make peace.
The video ended at that point, but Istafan said that right after he stopped filming, the Chinese man shouted and swore at the young guy, telling him to “fuck off”.
Here is Istafan’s post:
Incidents of unreasonable anger and refusals to forgive others for truly small things like accidentally getting pushed or shoved have recently made their way into the news. Just last month, The Independent shared a similar story of a man yelling and berating a young boy who accidentally cycled over his foot on an ECP overhead bridge. Apologies were blatantly ignored, tempers flared, and chaos ensued.
Perhaps it’s time for people to chill out, not sweat the small stuff, and be a little less angry and more friendly toward their fellow man.
These netizens have hit the nail on the head with their comments:
