YOURSAY | ‘This is the man who was defended as a symbol of violation of Malay pride and dignity.’

Youth in alleged phone theft that led to Low Yat riots faces another charge

Pemerhati: Shahrul Anuar Abdul Aziz allegedly stole a phone in Low Yat Plaza and consequently was involved in a brawl with some Chinese which resulted in some Malay lawyers and Umno goons turning it into a racial issue and it resulted in the bashing of an innocent Chinese who happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.

It also resulted in the birth of a Low Yat-type of enterprise run by Malays. Now that the same Shahrul Anuar has slashed a Malay and his earlier supporters don’t seem to be around.

Compared to him there is another Malay who is strongly suspected to have committed very much more serious crimes, such as allegedly stealing billions. This man is being protected by the very top ministers and government officials.

Shahrul Anuar must be wondering why he is being so harshly treated and charged by the authorities when compared to this other man.

Sali Tambap: Shahrul Anuar is just a ‘budak nakal’ (naughty boy). Whether he is Malay or Chinese, what he really needs is a good spanking, perhaps a proper rehabilitation so that he would not steal, take illegal drug or hurt people.

What does he want to do in his life? Today he allegedly steals mobile phones, or wanders about at an ungodly hour in the morning and slashes his friends with a dangerous weapon. Tomorrow, he may do something worse.

The amazing thing is that he had become a hero overnight by the abominable thing that he allegedly did. Why did you people need to hero worship an alleged thief?

Take away all that bigotry and racist lens, Shahrul Anuar is just like any bad kid and therefore has to be dealt with accordingly.

Probably the only reason why we see petty criminals being justified in what they are doing is because this country has lost its morality.

We have no sense of righteousness anymore. Our religious upbringing is tainted by bad teaching from the politicians who make very bad examples of themselves and have allowed wrongdoings.

If our prime minister can do what he did, then what Shahrul Anuar did was really nothing at all. So maybe that is the root of our problem.

Anonymous 560221439180274: They came to his support once, and more interestingly a group of lawyers also gave a racial twist to the Low Yat incident, thereby making a regular offender into an instant hero.

It even motivated a minister to start Low Yat 2, decidedly dividing the races.

I want to see how many lawyers are going to rush to the defence of the notorious hero, whose victim this time around is another Malay.

Sans Prejudice: A alleged thief and a drug abuser being glorified because of his ‘ketuanan’? He even has the services of lawyers to defend him.

A man like him, who nearly caused a riot doesn't deserve all this publicity. It sends the wrong message to would-be offenders that committing an offence at the 'right time' and 'right place' on the 'right' people will be condoned.

Commentable: And this is the same Malay chap whom a bunch of Malays were trying to champion and protect outside Low Yat? This very same chap who has no qualms to allegedly attack and hurt another fellow Malay with a machete in Jalan Jelatek?

I feel very sorry for the lawyer picked to defend him. Certainly this man does not come into anyone's mind as a person who represents the Melayu's dignity, does it?

As somebody already asked - where is Ali Tinju now?

Vent: Yes, this is the man who was defended as the symbol of the violation of Malay pride and dignity so much so that a dedicated team of Malay lawyers rose to defend him among them, none other than former MAS chairperson Aziz Abdul Rahman.

At 81 years of age, one may be forgiven for senile chauvinism and misplaced nationalism but if an alleged thief is symbolic of ‘maruah Melayu’, what is Najib a symbol of then?

We just don’t seem to have the words in the English language to describe this delusion. So let’s just settle for ‘ketuanan Melayu’ then. This translates easily to racist supremacy, which is what the Low Yat brouhaha was all about!

Anonymous_1388029052: Where are the Malay NGOs? Where is minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob?

They were the first people to scream racial discrimination when this boy was "supposedly cheated" at Low Yat.

Democrat: This poor man needs help, not condemnation. Also, it will do Umno good if its lawyers and supporters look into his real need, not defend blindly because he is a Malay.

Indeed, he needs psychiatric help.

Ipohcrite: An innocent victim like him deserves the government's full support. This is another chance for Ismail Sabri to come up with some hare-brained idea to save him and his cohorts.

Anonymous$&@?: Why is Mara not helping this victim of racial abuse?

He was a hero in the Low Yat incident and should have been given priority to own a booth in Mara Digital Mall so that he won't go round creating more trouble.


The above is a selection of comments posted by Malaysiakini subscribers. Only paying subscribers can post comments. Over the past one year, Malaysiakinians have posted over 100,000 comments. Join the Malaysiakini community and help set the news agenda. Subscribe now .

These comments are compiled to reflect the views of Malaysiakini subscribers on matters of public interest. Malaysiakini does not intend to represent these views as fact.