TRAIN etiquette refers to behaviour or conduct expected of commuters on public rail systems.
This includes common sense acts such as always standing to the sides of the doors and wait for passengers to fully exit the train before you try to step inside.
Other expected codes of conduct include giving up designated priority seats to pregnant women, elderly passengers or people with disabilities a.k.a. OKU (acronym for Orang Kurang Upaya).
All very decent and common sense things to do but sometimes in the cauldron of rush hour commute, decency and common sense isn’t always at the fore, especially after a hard day’s toil.
This was the storm in the teacup that was brought about by a post by Threader Iwaw Lynn (@che_manggis) which purportedly showed two Chinese-looking LRT (Light Rail Transit) passengers occupying priority seats when there was a seemingly pregnant lady standing in front of them.
Expressing disgust, this Threader on a high horse declared her sympathy for the seemingly pregnant lady who had to stand all the way from Klang to Glenmarie.
She fumed indignantly that the duo even feigned ignorance when there were reminder announcements to give up priority seats to those in need.
“Why were the seated passengers so inconsiderate?” groused this supposedly civic-conscious commuter.
Playing race card
Immediately, there were mischief-making rightists who sought to turn this into a race row by insinuating that it was a typically selfish and inconsiderate behaviour by Chinese passengers who could not care less about the poor, pregnant Malay lady standing in front of them.
This was quickly pounced upon by netizens who called out these racist agent provocateurs by highlighting that the priority seats were occupied by passengers of all races.
This irate commenter was in doubt that the original Threader was up to no good by taking pictures targeting a specific ethnicity and portraying them as cold-hearted, uncaring commuters.
Reinforcing the view that this is a common issue and had nothing to do with race, another reasonable Malaysian pointed out that nobody gave up their seat for his (then) pregnant wife either given that they were either unaware or were resting at that time.
However, many obliged when asked to do so whether they’re Malays or Chinese.
The insinuation that this Threader (and other like-minded netizens) were merely trying to poke the hornet’s nest with such irresponsible postings were clear from the many responses lambasting her.
One obvious fellow commuter listed all the potential reasons why the ladies occupying the priority seats did NOT get up.
They may have been exhausted, nodded off and not noticed the pregnant lady or they may even be suffering from physical issues themselves.
The bottom line is, “what gives you the right to snap pictures of strangers and upload it onto social media?”
This sentiment was echoed by more than one commenter who was uncomfortable with this practice of posting images online sans permission.
It was pointed out that the faces of the ladies in question were clearly visible and this act of public shaming was an invitation to litigation.
The fear that LRT commuters offend someone by assuming they were pregnant when they were just carrying some extra poundage was rife as seen by the many comments on the subject.
One commuter remarked that she had seen another fellow passenger get screamed at for making that mistake, causing others to think twice before being chivalrous.
At the end of the day, this poster has been called out for trying to create sensationalist content out of common, everyday scenarios.
As one civic-conscious Malaysian pointed out, why didn’t the poster be proactive and ask that the priority seats be given up for the pregnant woman instead of hurriedly uploading it onto social media.
As made abundantly clear from the scores of comments, the poster had erred in her judgement with plenty of reasonable Malaysians kindly asking her to get off her high horse. –Sept 27, 2026
