AS road bullying goes, an altercation over a minor traffic incident should not dominate our national discourse. Frayed tempers on the road happen every day. Malaysians have seen a lot of such behaviour, which sometimes make its way to YouTube.
So, why did road bully Siti Fairrah Ashykin Kamaruddin’s abusive behaviour against elderly Sim Siak Heong dominate our conversations? Dozens of Internet memes were spawned within hours of the video going viral. Barely 48 hours after the episode, it was all over the news, as radio stations lined up to have Siti Fairrah, fondly known as Kiki, on air. Three weeks on, we are still talking about what is really a simple case of road bullying.
The truth is, the incident struck a chord with us. It is like how we are drawn to certain movies or books because they mirror facets of our lives. Subconsciously, we identify with the drama in the video clip on at least four levels.
Race permeates all around
Kiki made a brief remark about race in the 2½-minute video. We have grown used to seeing just about everything in racial terms. Kiki is Malay and her victim, fondly known as Uncle Sim, is Chinese. It was a theme percolating in all the discussions from the start.
It didn’t take long for the subtle race dynamics to become overt. Malay right-wing group Perkasa offered to raise funds for Kiki after she was sentenced by the court to a RM5,000 fine and 240 hours of community work. Not to be outdone, Chinese-dominated DAP offered free legal services to Kiki if she decided to appeal her case, in a move that smacks of racial posturing.
Unhealthy obsession with twisted thoughts and actions
We have a fetish for perverted ideas and action, and surprise, surprise, often lend them more credence than we realise. In Kiki’s case, we made her a media sensation for berating an elderly man. She was on air, on print and treated like she had brought peace to the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, the media all but ignored Uncle Sim, who kept his cool under pressure and prevented the conflict from escalating.
Likewise, our press gives extensive coverage to those who say and do the darndest things. Those who disparage other race, earn prime spots in the media. Meanwhile, headlines like “Moderation key to unity” are relegated to the bottom of page 18 in newspapers.
Collectively, we lap up what the media dishes out with an inexplicable gusto. We then vent and rant on social media, often forgetting that we only help to amplify these sick messages along the way.
Generational gap
On the one hand, we saw a calm if submissive silver-haired Uncle Sim, 68, attacked by the brash Kiki, 30. That sums up the generational clash taking place around us. The young today are impatient and pushy as they work and live in an environment very different from that of their forefather’.
Though these clashes may not be as dramatic, they have the same underlying intensity. This could be an overseas-educated woman snapping at her conservative mother-in-law over how to raise a child. Or it could be the tech-savvy fresh graduate clashing with the balding seniors at the office over how to market a product.
In politics, we see how the young are aggressively trying to rewrite the rules of the game, much to the ire of the old guards, who jealously defend the traditional ways of doing things. This takes place not only within individual parties, but also in the larger body politic.
We are judgmental
We quickly judged Kiki even before we heard her side of the story. We never questioned what made her go berserk (hence, empathised with her). We were quick to call her names and admonished her in ways that was as bad, if not worse, than how she had treated Uncle Sim.
This trait manifests itself most strikingly when Malaysians are online. Behind the veil of cyber anonymity, we can be merciless with those who are different from us — whether in terms of skin colour, how we call our God or political beliefs.
So, there we have it — four elements we may identify with either in part or in whole that may explain our obsession with the video. It doesn’t mean we are all insensitive and love to entertain twisted thoughts.
On the contrary, most of us are decent people.
It’s just that every now and then, we find ourselves doing a double take when we notice emerging blemishes on the image we see in the mirror. This time, it came in the form of a video showing a steering lock-swinging woman abusing an elderly man on a busy street.
Centre For A Better Tomorrow is a civil society organisation that promotes moderation and good governance.