Netizen Shares How A Bus Conductor Discriminated Against Foreign And Non-Muslim Passengers
"I feel so bad that I couldn't do enough to protest."
By Katrina Khairul Azman — 13 May 2019, 04:41 PM
A netizen took to Twitter to share his experience witnessing discrimination while travelling from Johor to Kuala Lumpur on a bus
"I want to teach these racist a**holes a lesson," he wrote on 12 May.
The tweet has garnered over 2,900 retweets at the time of writing.
The man and his three siblings were walking to the back of the bus to find their pre-booked seats when the conductor asked them to sit in the front
"I was like okay, maybe the seats were empty, although I vaguely recall that the seats were full," he said.
Shortly after moving to the front, a foreigner who appeared to be Bangladeshi informed the netizen that he was sitting in his seat.
Just as the four siblings got up to move, the bus conductor stopped them.
"Don't worry, I purposely put our people in the front. Foreigners can sit at the back," the bus conductor said while patting the man's shoulder
"Why should the foreigners sit at the back?" the netizen responded.
The conductor did not reply him.
"I muttered loudly in protest, but not loud enough to cause a disturbance," he wrote.
The netizen also found the conductor's strict rules concerning food on the bus extreme, suspecting that it was more to do with Ramadan than following protocol
A non-Muslim woman carrying a Tupperware containing food was asked to put her food in the luggage boot before boarding.
Shortly after departing, the conductor stopped the bus at the side of the road to tell a Chinese woman eating McDonald's fries at the back of the bus to do the same.
The conductor could be heard muttering something about it being fasting month while the woman stepped out with her food.
"I was fuming with anger, but I had to contain myself because after seeing the lengths he would go to to protect his fragile iman, I didn't know what else he was capable of," he wrote
"I feel so bad that I couldn't do enough to protest," the man said, explaining that he was afraid to be kicked out of the bus since he did not have cash in hand for another ride home.
However, the enraged netizen expressed his intention to lodge a report with the Land Public Transport Agency (APAD) about the incident.
"This is gonna be the last time I am using this bus," he added.
In response to the thread, Twitter users condemned the bus driver's behaviour and thanked the netizen for calling out discrimination
However, one netizen argued that the man could have done more to show the bus conductor that his actions were unacceptable.
