UKM Crowd Criticised For Mocking UPNM’s Fatal Bullying Incident During Football Final

Sport rivalries can get quite intense but it is important to keep a level head and not overstep boundaries in the name of ‘banter’. Unfortunately, supporters of a local public university’s football team has definitely crossed the line recently during the Malaysian Institutes of Higher Education (IPT) Football League Final.

The final, which was held on 6 July 2022 between Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) and Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (UPNM) was marred by fans of the former, who sang an insensitive and provocative chant during the match. Played in UKM’s own stadium, the home crowd was caught singing ‘iron untuk gosok baju’ in Bahasa Malaysia or translated to English as ‘Steam irons are for ironing shirts’, which is believed to be in reference to the infamous bullying incident in UPNM which caused the death of a student.

Shared by @LagaCawan on Twitter, you can watch the full video of the UKM crowd singing the insensitive chant here:

Nak banter atau nak nganjing team lawan pun agak-agaklah. Orang dah mati pun dia boleh buat main.

Kalau setakat student je yang menganjing mungkin boleh faham. Ini dengan pegawai UKM dan TNC HEP sekali join. pic.twitter.com/FnizONhtCa

— Laga Cawan ? (@LagaCawan) July 9, 2022

Understandably, the actions of the crowd was criticised by Malaysians who believe that it is not only insensitive, but an insult to the late Cadet Officer Zulfarhan. Most of those that replied to the video expressed their disappointment at the UKM crowd’s actions, which they said are not befitting of its ‘national university’ monicker.

This provocation spoiled what was a fantastic night of local football between the two university teams, in which UPNM ended up victorious. Let’s hope that the crowd and other Malaysians would learn from this incident so that similar occurrences would not happen again in the future.

What do you guys think? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.

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