KOTA KINABALU: A Sabah lawmaker wants police to take action against a man who assaulted and discriminated against a rider in a viral incident in Kuala Lumpur last week.
Kudat member of Parliament Datuk Verdon Bahana said he has received video clips of the security guard, clad in purple blazer, pinning a rider and questioning his nationality as the victim spoke in Malay but with the Sabah dialect.
"There are two really disappointing things in this clip. The first was the violence that this 'office' had inflicted on the rider.
"The second is the nature of the discrimination against Sabah. This is insulting and cannot be accepted.
"Just imagine that we have been independent for 60 years, we have been together in Malaysia for 60 years but there is still "mangkuk hayun" who do not know the language of Sabah. This is something that needs to be taken seriously," he said in a TikTok video.
As a representative of the people from Sabah, he said police should continue the investigation so things like this won't happen again.
He added that should the perpetrator be found guilty; he should be sent to Sabah to learn more about the language and the state.
Verdon said despite it being said that both parties have apologised to each other, apologising alone will not give awareness to society as this was a very serious offence.
"I will also speak with other lawmakers in Sabah if there is a need to bring this matter in the Dewan Rakyat, this is an obscenity to national integration where everyone should have understood the positions of Sabah, Sarawak and peninsular is in one country and we know each other.
"Therefore police should take action to catch the suspects and this will act as a lesson to our society."