We've just been to Concorde Hotel. We went there to see our Filipino friends and to have supper. At the same time, I witnessed one of the violent fights I've seen in person. And I lost my appetite because of it. I saw the whole thing and it somehow affected my day (or night). I'm sharing this to all my friends, especially the foreigners.
The strolling band was still singing at the coffeeshop because there's one Dato, one of the hotel's regular costumers, who would always request them to sing for him and his friends. That is their job, to entertain patrons who want to enjoy music while they're having their meal.
And there was a black man, a foreigner, sitting nearby with his 3 friends. And maybe he doesn't enjoy the music so much because it's mostly in Bahasa, so this black guy shouted at the strollers to stop singing. I guess he was drunk and wanted to relax. The dato's bodyguards handled the situation in their "own" way by going to the guy and asking him to shut up. But this black guy didn't stop at all, even making gestures and complaining to the management or something like that. The bodyguards, since they didn't want to lose face in front of their boss and other people, they went to the black guy and provoked him. They banged his chair causing him to fall on the floor. We then stood up because they were getting into fist fight. I saw one of the bodyguards held up a fork he got from the table and I was really really scared for the black guy.
The guy went to the corner of the restaurant, just below the CCTV camera, and told the bodyguards to kill him there and then. He was very brave and quite smart, he knows the camera can film everything from that angle. But what he wasn't thinking at all was he bumped the wrong person. And to make the situation worse, he kept on shouting bad things about Malaysians. I think he forgot that he's in Malaysia, and why is he here in the first place? This provoked all the other Malaysians eating there, even the local band boys wanted to get a piece of him. He just couldn't shut up and I was really praying that he would just shut up. This went on for about 20 minutes.
What puzzled me most during that time was the lack of security in Concorde Hotel. One of the singers even had to go to the lounge to ask for help because the security wasn't doing anything. Luckily, they had one guest whose job is into security and he managed to be the middle man. But he still couldn't keep the guy to shut his mouth. He still kept on cursing while he was being dragged out from the restaurant.
We thought it was all over because we saw a police car came and the guy was already outside. But he went back in and reported to the police what happened, pointing to the guys who provoked the fight - still shouting and cursing Malaysian people in general. The local guys were so angry that I guess 6 guys trampled him to the floor and started kicking and punching leaving the guy bleeding. I'm sure if they weren't stopped, they could have beaten the guy to death.
Funny thing was aside from the lack of security, the police man who was standing there didn't do anything to stop it. He just let those guys beat the black guy up. And the guy, with blood spread on the floor, wasn't helped by anyone at all. No one even picked the guy up to bring him to the hospital, not even the police who was there. Some hotel security people just helped him stop the bleeding by wiping it and putting some pressure on it. But he lay bleeding on the floor for 10 minutes or so.
I can understand that the man who the black guy bumped into is one of the notorious and powerful man in KL. So what? There is still a law here, right? Is this a clear indication that justice doesn't prevail anymore? This is the Malaysian law we're talking about. I'm not being political here, but as a foreigner myself, I also need security here. But then I guess that's the worst case a foreigner can encounter in another country. And that's what you get when alcohol starts to take over your brain causing you to do stupid things.
I still love Malaysia, don't get me wrong. One big lesson learned today: Make sure to stay out of trouble when you're not in your territory. And if a foreigner do get himself into trouble, he might just as well accept the fact that he's literally alone. (Or maybe just get off the scene! Hahaha!)
1 comment:
if i am a malaysian i will just enjoy the scene. he's in my territory. lesson learned, behave if you are not in your own country. he is cursing the wrong people in the wrong place.
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