KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia may be progressing on various fronts, but there is still a pervasive attitude among some people to favour foreigners, especially Western visitors, to the point of marginalising locals.
Such a situation was experienced by a lawyer, Datuk Shamsuddin Nawawi, who recounted an “annoying” experience at the Petronas Twin Towers Sky Bridge recently.
Taking to Facebook, he said that he had managed to buy a ticket to visit the bridge for the 4pm slot at a price of RM34.
“The price (for) Malaysian seniors and children are the same – RM34 only. That’s ok and I understand that the tickets and queues are on ‘first-come-first-serve’ basis,” he wrote.
He said that he arrived as early as 2pm and took a seat in the waiting room. He was then expecting to queue up and get his ticket scanned at 3.45pm.
The situation, however, became heated when an officer on duty approached a pair of Western tourists who were also waiting to go up.
Shamsuddin referred to the visitors as “Mat Salleh”, a Malay slang for white Westerners.
“At around 3pm, a Malay official wearing a Petronas coloured (themed) tie came to the round chair next to me and asked the Mat Salleh couple the entry time on their tickets.
“The Mat Salleh answered at 4.15pm. The officer then winked and signalled to tell the Mat Salleh couple to come forward so they could board early,” he claimed.
His post on this experience was reported by Getaran, The Vibes’ Bahasa Malaysia sister portal.
Shamsuddin said he did not know the rationale behind the officer’s decision to prioritise the tourist couple whose slot was for later.
“I began to wonder why the Mat Salleh can go up first. I am the one who was waiting since earlier and was not treated like that (allowed in earlier).”
He said that when he sought an explanation from the officer, he was told that they had the power to prioritise as they thought necessary.
He confessed that he then raised his voice because he was angry at being allegedly marginalised in his own country.
He said that he lost his temper and spoke loudly as the officer tried to give an excuse.
Shamsuddin lamented that as a Malay who was compliantly waiting for his turn, he had been discriminated against by another Malay in favour of Westerners.
Meanwhile, the management of the Petronas Twin Towers issued a statement apologising for the incident.
“We take this matter seriously and are conducting an investigation as soon as possible,” said the statement.
“We will make sure this does not happen again. We are very sorry for any inconvenience.” – The Vibes, November 5, 2023
