Alamak, This Barber In KL Thought That Sandakan Was In Indonesia
"There's no use speaking good English but you don't know that Sandakan, Sabah, is located in Malaysia."
By Tang Ruxyn — 01 Aug 2017, 07:08 PM
A man from Sabah has turned to social media to express his disappointment towards certain Malaysians after his recent experience at a barber shop in Kuala Lumpur
Jufazli Shi Ahmad's story shed light on how some Malaysians are still very ignorant of matters related to their own country.
"As a Sabahan, I wish to caution some of my friends in Peninsular Malaysia to read more. Why?"
"I was getting a hair cut in a barbershop in Kuala Lumpur awhile ago. The barber asked me, 'Where are you from, bro(ther)? You look familiar," he wrote in a Facebook post last Sunday, 30 July.
The comment made Jufazli smile, as he thought that perhaps the barber might have recognised him as one of those Malaysians that have gone viral on social media.
However, Jufazli soon discovered how wrong he was when he realised that barber had thought that he was a foreigner
"I told the Malay guy that I am from Sandakan, Sabah. He immediately said, 'Oh, Indonesia.'" Jufazli said.
The 28-year-old said that he was silently cursing in his heart as he was shocked to find out that in this 21st century, there are still Malaysians who do not know where Sandakan, Sabah is.
"Since he was confident that I was an Indonesian, he spoke to me in English. He asked me what's interesting in Malaysia."
"I didn't want him to be embarrassed so I just continued conversing with him in English, even when he is a Malay and I am his brother from Malaysia."
"There's no use speaking good English but you don't know that Sandakan, Sabah, is located in Malaysia. Not Indonesia, bro."
"I'm sorry. We look foolish if we do not know this basic information as Malaysians," he said, as he reminded that Sabah is one of the institutions that formed the union known as Malaysia on 16 September 1963.
"Bro, please read more about our history. Don't just read Malaya's history only. I find your statement racist and it belittles Sabah's position in Malaysia."
"Last but not last, my Bahasa Melayu (BM) is really like the formal language. Not like the BM that is hipster-like and sounds like a crazy person's language. So, don't think that I'm from Indonesia just because my BM is different from yours in Peninsular Malaysia."
Jufazli, who is the founder of Gerakan Anak Muda Selamatkan Sabah (GAMSS), pointed out he, as a Sabahan and a Bajau, which is an ethnic group with its own language, is proud that he appears to be more respectful of the position of BM as he respected the Malays in Malaysia.
The post has received more than 6,500 shares and 3,100 comments at the time of writing.
Jufazli stressed that the main purpose of writing and sharing his experience was to initiate a "Merdeka campaign" in Malaysia
Writing in the comment section of his Facebook post, Jufazli said, "Our people always look down on Sabahans in Malaysia. I have the responsibility to remind myself, and my brothers and sisters in Peninsular Malaysia to respect each other."
"I forgive some parties who try to provoke Sabah on various matters. This is not the first time that this has happened. (This has happened) a lot of times. And this is a reminder for all racist individuals in Malaysia that Sandakan, Sabah is a part of Malaysia."
"Although we are not developed as Peninsular Malaysia, it is not a reason or argument to degrade Sabahans and Sarawakians in your everyday social life," he said, adding that the gap between Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah and Sarawak has been growing.
However, it was learned that the whole incident could have been a case of an honest mistake after all
A man left a comment on Facebook, saying that he was the barber involved in the incident and apologised for mishearing.
He said that he would have spoken to Jufazli in Malay if he knew that he was from Sabah.
"I've been a barber for awhile and you're not the only customer from Sabah. Do you think it is logical that I wouldn't know that Sandakan is in Sabah? If I made a mistake, let me know."
"Maybe this is a chance for you to publicise someone's mistake, when in fact, all I did was just hear wrongly."
Meanwhile, another netizen, who said that she personally knows the barber involved, said that it was all just a misunderstanding and that there was no racist issue between Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah and Sarawak.
"It was a genuine mistake. What is not genuine is how you seek publicity out of it," the netizen wrote in a post.
