Ingenious measures by Sarawakian to dodge “tak puasa” enforcement: IC on forehead, crucifix in hand

Ingenious measures by Sarawakian to dodge “tak puasa” enforcement: IC on forehead, crucifix in hand






AS the fallout from the slapping incident in Johor Baru continues to enrage Malaysians, some netizens who sport a Malay look have seized the moment to poke fun at the entire incident.


If there should be an award for ingenuity, the winner would surely go to indigenous Sarawakian Darren Gilbert (@dawenkoh) with his two-year-old, 14-second TikTok clip which fetched a staggering 2.5M views, 293.8K likes, 5,033 comments and 9,103 shares.


Darren’s tactic – despite been displayed in a hilarious manner – can be easily emulated by every dark-skinned Chinee, Chindians or indigenous Malaysians (like Darren) to evade holier-than-thou moral police regardless if they are self-enforcers or genuine enforcement officers dispatched by the religious authorities.




Fancy this. In his brief clip, the Malay-looking lad is seen enjoying food and drink with his identity card pasted onto his forehead. As an additional precaiution, the hungry diner then clutches a rosary with a crucifix on it to ensure there’s no confusion over his religious affiliation.


Watch on TikTok


The clip made its round once again after it was shared on veteran journalist Andrew Sia’s Facebook page with quite a few netizens finding it hilarious.


However, one did remark that despite its comical value, it is sad that such a video needs to be re-posted in the first place.



One Chinese netizen with darker complexion also noted she gets funny looks but as a lady she gets a bit of leeway. However, vendors automatically pack her order instead of dining in. She reckoned that perhaps adopting a more Chinese-sounding accent would help.



One commenter simply wondered why can’t people just mind their own business as this ugly episode could have been altogether avoided if there was respect for a person’s individual rights.



In a separate post on the Amazing Sarawak Facebook page, another indigenous Sarawakian took the preventive measure of openly declaring his race (Dayak), religion (Christian) and IC number to avoid getting slapped for eating in public.


However, there were those who were of the opinion that the poster was making a mountain out of a molehill.

Claiming the Johor Bahru incident which coincidentally befallen a Sarawakian of Chinese descent was an isolated case, it was argued that playing up the slapping incident is designed to make Muslims look bad.

The netizen further urged people to stop fanning 3R (race, royalty and religion) flames with such posts.



With another commenter asking just who was the one recording the incident, insinuating perhaps this was staged or designed to create disharmony by having the video go viral.

With one asking what was the point of this post to which another netizen gave a fairly succinct reply. It was to put a stop to extremist and self-entitled behaviour.



Fact of the matter is that such responses were to be expected given the highly unacceptable behaviour of the original elderly gentlemen slapper.

To further fan the flames, the perpetrator has pleaded not guilty to charges of causing bodily harm when brought to court.

This sort of moral policing needs to stop as it is symptomatic of a greater malaise in society. – March 20, 2025