Video Of A Malaysian Berating A Singaporean Couple Who Parked In OKU Lot Stirs Debate
While many support him, a few have accused him of being a bully.
By Sadho Ram — 14 Apr 2016, 06:18 AM
On 11 April, Naren Narasiah, a 44-year-old Malaysian, posted three separate videos on a Facebook group called Champion4disability
The videos - one being 2.49 minutes, the other being 2.51 minutes and the last one being 58 seconds in length - show him berating a couple from Singapore for parking their car in an OKU lot at a rest stop in Machap, Johor, at around 6.30pm.
The incident actually happened some 7 months ago, Naren wrote in the comment section of one of the videos. However, the reason he said he posted the videos now because the couple didn't keep their promise they made to him on that evening.
The Singaporean couple first parked on an OKU lot, but when confronted they "tried to worm their way out with dumb excuses"
Adding that he deliberately blocked their car to disable them from reversing, Naren claims that he waited for the couple to come back to their car for good 45 minutes. That's when the drama unfolded, he wrote in the Facebook group. When the couple returned, they tried to reverse their car and knocked into Naren's truck in the process.
"That kind of added fuel to my fire," Naren wrote, adding that he had just finished a long day of work, and was feeling irritable. "Very tired and extremely irritable, I wanted them to feel what it was like having to wait just like how a disabled person would have felt."
The videos, which at the time of writing have together been shared for over 12K times on Facebook, are filled with comments from netizens from both sides of the Causeway, arguing with each other
While a majority of comments both from Malaysians and Singaporeans are in support of Naren's act, a handful of netizens has questioned whether it was right for Naren to confront the couple in the manners the way he did - shouting, humiliating them.
In the videos, Naren is seen berating the Singaporean couple, who are repeatedly apologising to him for parking on a lot designated for the disabled. The woman, in their defence, is saying that they did not see the signboard. "Rubbish! So big there you cannot see the signboard ah?!", Naren reacted incredulously, adding, "Now you say you are very sorry. Because I am here, big, tall, shouting at you - you scared, you don't know what to say. Because handicapped people cannot fight for their rights."
When the couple offered to help Naren repair his truck, he refused and instead told them to donate the RM1,000 which they offered as compensation to a charitable organisation for the handicapped
He gives them his business card and asked them to inform him once the donation is made. The couple promises to do so and send Naren the receipt of the donation.
However, the couple apparently didn't keep their promise to Naren as he said that he hasn't heard back from them even after seven months had passed. That's why he "decided to publish this and make them famous," Naren wrote in the comment section.
While there's an overwhelming amount of support from Netizens for what Naren did, quite a few have accused him of being a bully
However, Naren, in his defence while speaking to The Straits Times, said, "If I said, 'don't park there lah', what would be the outcome? Just because of this one video, something has happened," adding that he has implicated himself as well.
"I have also subjected myself to insults, harsh comments, even from my friends. But it's worth it to get the message across to many people like this," he told to The ST.