A 72-year-old Australian woman was berated by a group of youth on the women’s coach of a train recently after she reminded the young men about the women’s coach.
In her viral Instagram post @sheahnee, Malaysian media personality, Sheahnee Iman Lee shared an incident where her Australian mum, who is also a retired teacher was treated rudely by a group of young men who “took shelter” in the KTMB women’s coach.
“Taking the women’s coach is something we insist on whenever she takes the train ride alone. She loves using public transport and on that day, she was headed to KL from Klang,” Sheahnee explained in her post.
Despite the clear signage of the women’s coach, the senior citizen decided to speak up and reminded the young men whose presence was distressing other women in the coach.
Unfortunately, the youth didn’t take it well.
“We are Malaysians and this is my country!” the youth told the woman.
That was not all. They started taking videos of Sheahnee’s mum, and even invited other friends to fill up the women’s coach, much to the concern of her mum and other passengers. Sheahnee’s mum did the same and took photos of the group while some of the men proudly posed in front of her camera.
“Hey kid, this is my mother’s home too. Just because my mum’s skin color doesn’t meet your expectations, she has no right to speak up? Just because you’re Malaysians, does that mean you can do whatever you want?” Sheahnee wrote on her post.
Sheahnee also remarked that her mum has been calling Malaysia home “before the rude boys’ parents were born.”
“I’m not sure if she will take the train again”
In a conversation with WORLD OF BUZZ, Sheahnee said her mum was distressed by the incident on the train.
“She was quite shaken but now I think she is just more disappointed than anything else,” she said.
Unfortunately, Sheahnee told WORLD OF BUZZ that her mum is unsure if she will ever take the train again after the episode.
“My mum is a huge advocate of the public transport. She even writes about her experiences and the budget travel on her websits. I guess this incident kind of taints her love for taking public transpost.”
Sheahnee also mentioned that KTMB has since responded to her, and she thanked the team for listening to her attentively. She suggested more patrols on the train and stations to make sure commuters abide by the rules.
“While it may be some time before mum feels safe enough to ride the train again, I thank KTMB for reaching out and hope they only get better from here.”
She also reminded the young men that it’s not too late to fix themselves.
“Imagine that old woman was your family members. Be better. Be more!”
We hope this shall serve as a reminder to all public transport users to follow ALL rules set by the organisations.
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