KFC food fight not racial, says witness

By Mohd Farhan Darwis

February 11, 2012

Ng (centre) giving his version of events during a press conferernce on February 9 2012, from TMI filepics

KLANG, Feb 11 — It was hunger and not racism that triggered a fight at a KFC outlet in neighbouring i-City, Shah Alam, a witness to the quarrel said today.

The witness, who only wanted to be known as Jes6366, recorded a 28-second long fight scene between an unhappy customer and KFC workers, which she uploaded on video-sharing site Youtube earlier this week.

The video went viral and prompted an uproar that saw social media users taking sides between the customer and the workers, which soon spiraled into allegations of racism.

Danny Ng, the man who had been assaulted in the incident, had since stepped forward and urged for calm, asking the public not to fan racial sentiments.

Jes6366, who had been queuing up for the famous fried chicken, backed Ng and said no racial slurs had been hurled during the fight to qualify a racial debate.

“There were no racial words that were mentioned in the fight, but Danny was speaking in a pretty loud voice and maybe that’s what provoked the KFC worker and made him angry,” she told a news conference organised by Selangor Pakatan Rakyat (PR) lawmakers here.

According to Jes6366, Ng and his wife had left the KFC outlet earlier but dissatisfied, Ng returned to demand an apology from the staff; and that was likely what triggered the quarrel.

“At that time, there were about 40 people who were waiting to buy the fried chicken, but KFC was out of chickens even though the clock showed that it was only 9.30pm.

“Customers were complaining because there was no more chicken and there were disgruntled sounds from the kitchen. Suddenly, the KFC workers came out holding a metal rod,” she related to reporters.

“But the KFC manager who was present did not take any action. Instead, he just sat in the kitchen,” she added.

The PR lawmakers present all urged the public against turning it into a racial quarrel.

The police will be holding an identification parade today for Ng to pick up his assailant, DAP MP, Lim Lip Eng told reporters.

KFC has yet to issue a public statement over the incident.

But Lim said, “KFC has agreed to meet the victim [of the assault] next week at its headquarters and DAP will send a legal representative to accompany Danny.”