Earlier this week, a businesswoman, known as Mariyah or MakCik Kemboja, received a lot of backlash from netizens after jokingly labelling Malay people as “lazy” in comparison to Cambodians. Many even tagged the Crown Prince of Johor (TMJ), Tunku Ismail Idris to take action against the entrepreneur as she is a citizen of Johor.
Not long after the heavy criticism, the Mariyah Holdings founder posted a public apology to everyone who was offended by her joke. However, although he did not agree with the snarky remark made by the Cambodia-born woman, Michael Ang felt like netizens were overreacting to the whole situation. Here’s what he said:
Yesterday (Monday, 20th November), producer-director Michael Ang posted on his Instagram to share his thoughts on the whole “Lazy Malays” or “Melayu Malas” issue that’s been going viral recently. In the post, the 47-year-old first made it clear that he was not defending MakCik Kemboja for her offensive joke before he proceeded to question netizens’ reactions towards the controversial video.
“I’m not here to defend her but to those who got so offended to the point of demanding the Crown Price of Johor to take action, did you all watch the whole video? The whole thing showed that she was only joking and said that every race has good and bad apples. She also said that those who are hardworking will succeed while those who are lazy will lose,” he wrote. The Malaysian celeb then pointed out that people have the tendency to immediately judge someone without knowing the full story.
“I’m not saying she was right but my point is to watch the full video and know the whole story before passing judgment,” he added. While netizens understood that he meant well, many disagreed with Michael saying that the issue does not affect him since he’s not Malay. Some argued that jokes about race and religion are a hit-and-miss since they are sensitive topics.
@mariyahholdings menjunjung kasih Tunku 😭❤️💙🙏🏻
Michael Ang has yet to respond to netizens’ arguments. As for MakCik Kemboja, other than her apology video, she also extended her gratitude towards His Royal Highness TMJ for choosing not to take any actions against her, as seen in the video above. Opinions may be torn but we hope the entrepreneur will learn her lesson and be more careful on how she chooses to promote her business.
Watch her original controversial video below:
Tindakan seorang wanita yang mengaku dirinya merupakan berketurunan dan warganegara Kemboja bergurau menyatakan orang Melayu pemalas menerima kecaman daripada pengguna laman sosial terutamanya di TikTok.
Vidoe yang berdurasi satu minit tujuh saat itu dirakam seorang lelaki yang… pic.twitter.com/OKGcyBMCc2
— Malaysia Gazette (@MalaysiaGazette) November 19, 2023
Her apology video:
@mariyahholdings dengan rendah hati, madam ingin memohon ampun & maaf, kepada semua pihak yang terasa hati/tersinggung dengan konten madam sebelum ini. sejujurnya, madam tidak pernah terfikir & terniat untuk menghina sesiapa, tapi madam sedar & akui kekhilafan madam. pihak kami akan lebih berhati-hati selepas ini dalam memuatnaik sebarang konten, dan akan lebih peka & sensitif terhadap sensitiviti masyarakat. dengan tulus ikhlas, Madam Mariyah 🤍
