Foreigner bashing

This letter to the editor appeared in the Star of 7 February 2008.

'Foreigner-bashing in the heart of KL’s tourism belt

LAST weekend, in the vicinity of the Pavilion in KL, just outside Wisma Cosway, I witnessed a disturbing incident.

A group of young boys, aged between 13 and18, were running around in a mob. While running, if they saw someone who looked like a Bangladeshi, they would push and punch the person and quickly run away before the victim could react! I saw this happen five times within a few minutes.

Most people would brush it off as just a bunch of young punks “having fun” but the consequences can be catastrophic.

This is in the vicinity of KLCC and the Golden Triangle! What kind of international publicity would that provoke? Even worse, what if it was a local mistaken for a foreigner? Then, it would be racial time bomb!

I hope that the authorities and especially the police realise that these “minor” incidents and bad behaviour may be small to bother about now but what about the long-term effects.

What I witnessed is just the tip of an iceberg.

BAFFLED LOCAL BORN,
Subang Jaya'

This looks like the second time I've seen someone commenting on youths mobs accosting innocent bystanders. In this particular incident, the target are foreigners. As the writer says it is just a racial time bomb waiting to happen

if the victim is a Malaysian.

What exactly has happened to our youths. They have so much time on their hands that they have to resort to bashing people to get their kicks. Is this a sign that the mayhem brought by neo-nazis or football hooligans in western countries are making an appearance here?

Those entrusted with keeping the peace seems conveniently missing from the scene. Where are they? Their presence would at least be a preventive measure. A short term solution but very necessary to curb this disease in the bud.