Honda Malaysia announced on Thursday, December 20, that it had fired employee Caryn Yean, who had posted an insensitive and inflammatory comment on social media about the death of fireman Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim, who perished from injuries he sustained at the riots at Seafield temple in November.
On Monday, December 17 Zuraida Kamaruddin, the Minister of Housing and Local Government, announced the death of Adib at a press conference, which was shown via live stream on Facebook.
Yean posted a comment in Malaysian that read, “It wasn’t the government’s failure (to prevent Adib’s death)… It was your God’s failure to heal him.”
Netizens reacted in shock and anger at Yean’s remark and found out that she worked at Honda distributor Sri Utama Auto Sdn Bhd. They then complained about her insensitive comment on the Facebook page of the company.
Honda worked swiftly to address the issue, and by the following day, Tuesday, December 18, announced Yean’s suspension while it was investigating the matter.
Wong Chee Keong, the director of the company, said, “We sincerely apologize for the insensitive comment made by our staff member on the sad passing of fireman Adib. We do not condone, nor will we tolerate such behavior, online or offline. Our deepest condolences to the fireman’s family.”
By Thursday, the firing of Yean was announced on the company’s Facebook account.
“We would like to update that upon concluding the internal investigation and the said employee found to have breached the company’s policy with her misconduct, the said employee’s employment with Sri Utama Auto Sdn Bhd has been terminated with immediate effect.
We once again apologize for the hurt her comment has caused. We will be more attentive in training and educating our employees to instill high moral values and respect for all individuals at all times.”
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