PETALING JAYA – Kuala Lumpur “returned” to the good old days on Malaysia Day yesterday, with over 10,000 people turning up for the Keretapi Sarong event.
Many looked resplendent in their traditional attire paired with a batik or pelikat as they boarded trains in the Klang Valley.
Prior to the event itself, social media was rife with discussions and posts about Keretapi Sarong.
One particular post amassed over a million views on X (formerly Twitter), which left the social media site divided over the outcome.
What exactly happened?
On September 12, X user @fastfatneko posted a photo of a man in a kain batik, worn above the chest level, with a towel on his head, while pounding what can be assumed to be “sambal” using a pestle and mortar.
The photo was captioned: “1000 RT I wear (sic) like this at Keretapi Sarong.”
Ingat main-main ke https://t.co/NfShh04rBh pic.twitter.com/dlrarFIgh5
— KONEKO (@fastfatneko) September 16, 2023
Much to the shock of @fastfatneko, as evident in several tweets, the post garnered over 1,000 retweets.
The morning of September 16, which is the day of the Keretapi Sarong event, @fastfatneko posted: “Okay, Buletin TV3, if you are covering #KeretapiSarong23 and you see someone “berkemban”, please ignore, thanks.”
Prior to that, he was updating his followers when the repost count was at 500 and subsequently 900, accompanied by a crying emoji.
The count hit over 1,000 on September 12 itself when he announced at 8.24pm that he would be honouring his own challenge.
Yesterday, in a brief post, @fastatneko shared a photo captioned: “Did you think I was just playing?”
Ingat main-main ke https://t.co/NfShh04rBh pic.twitter.com/dlrarFIgh5
— KONEKO (@fastfatneko) September 16, 2023
The photo is believed to be of himself, albeit with his face covered with an emoji at an undisclosed train station.
He could be seen holding a pestle and mortar, wearing kain batik up to his chest, with a towel draped across his shoulders and another towel tied around his head.
The post amassed close to three million views.
The Twitterverse, however, was divided.
While some applauded him for his bravery, there were others who were worried his stunt might go down the “Matty Healy” way, referring to The 1975’s frontman’s act of kissing his bandmate on stage at the Good Vibes Festival, which led to the government cancelling the three-day event.
“I admire your bravery, but please don’t do this if you’re planning to join again next year.
“We don’t want another (incident) inspired by the ‘Matty Healy-GVF-fiasco’ to happen to beautiful events such as this, especially (if) it’s a patriotic one,” said @AmeeRamly.
Another user said: “If the annual fun event goes to s*** because of you, I hope nothing goes well for you for the next 10 years.” – The Vibes, September 17, 2023
