Taking public transportation such as the bus or train should be a safe and convenient way for everyone to travel. Unfortunately, there exist certain individuals who secretly record or photograph other passengers without their consent.
A Malaysian student recently took to Instagram to share a terrifying encounter with a male passenger who allegedly took photos and videos of her while on the bus.
M’sian woman horrified by man who secretly took photos and videos of her
Taking to her Instagram account, the student named Myra recounted how “a nice trip to the beach” turned into a troubling and unnerving journey instead.
In the caption, she wrote that the incident took place at around 3.30pm while she was taking the bus from Hentian Gambang to Kuantan yesterday (Mar 10).
The man boarded the bus a few stops after Myra did and she noticed that he never stopped looking at her, prompting her to stare at him as a way to tell him that she was aware of what was going on.
Then I noticed that he kept holding his phone at weird angles(the camera facing me). Obviously with his amount of brain cells, he didn’t even try to hide as I saw him send a picture of my legs to someone on WhatsApp.
“At this point I was wondering if I should say anything, but he’s a whole a** grown man and the bus was full of them too. Then I see that his screen is in video mode and he pretends to be on the call with someone while trying to record me.
“So I decided to record him back and he stopped recording after he saw me doing that,” she wrote.
What happened after
Speaking to WeirdKaya about the incident, Myra said her initial reaction was one of panic and that she was unsure whether she should confront the man as she was afraid he would turn violent.
“At the same time, I know I should be standing up for myself. So I thought that at least if I got his face, the authorities can do something to make sure he doesn’t do this to any other person in future. So I took a video of him recording me,” she said, adding that the man got off at the same bus stop as she did.
When asked whether she had reached out to RapidKL about it, Myra said she sent them an email and they replied her by urging her to lodge a police report, something that she plans to do today.
She also had a message for other female passengers who find themselves being the victim of unsolicited attention while taking public transportation.
Don’t ever think it’s your fault. If you feel safe enough and are surrounded by a group of friends, try to confront that person and make sure you’re recording everything so you have some sort of proof.
“I think sometimes we are afraid to say something because we feel we could be wrong, but there’s no harm in asking politely first to see if he did or did not do it. The worst is he says no and you apologise,” she said.
We hope the authorities act quickly in resolving this issue so that everyone can feel safe while taking public transportation!
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