Recently, the ISU SEMASA VIRAL X page shared a video showcasing 2 men, believed to be foreigners, in the waters of the canal that flows through The Mines Shopping Mall.
They wrote, “Why did no one inform us that you can now ‘bathe’ at The Mines Shopping Mall?”
Due to the lack of context, the post led many netizens to share negative sentiments and make racial comments about foreigners in Malaysia.
More than meets the eye
It turns out that the alleged foreigners ‘swimming’ in the mall’s canal were meant to be there!
The Mines Shopping Mall took to their Facebook page to clarify that the men in the canal were an event organiser and a worker. Both of them were in the canal to help set up for the mall’s Chap Goh Meh event.
They wrote, “Swimming in the river?? Nah… that’s our event organiser setting up a floating stage in the canal for our Chap Goh Meh event. You can’t swim but you can shop and join us to experience the unique Chap Goh Meh celebration at The Mines.”
They also included ‘behind the scenes’ footage of the event’s set-up.
A Community Note can be seen on the post
The ISU SEMASA VIRAL’s X post even has a community note attached that shares this clarification.
This has led netizens to bash the page for allegedly trying to stir up racial disharmony by not establishing the context behind the clip.
“This admin is racist and purposefully left out the context to allow for people to bash these innocent guys. (One of them is) an event organiser who had to enter the water to do set ups. For no reason, many people condemned these brothers and called them ‘pajeets’.”
“And those who condemned them are similar when it comes to spewing lies.”
“MCMC, can we take action against this post? It’s like they’re purposefully trying to bring up issues that they shouldn’t.”
You can check out The Mines Shopping Mall’s post here and ISU SEMASA VIRAL’s post here.
What do you think about this? Do feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section.
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