Man who bullied beer promoter loses job

The man who recorded his tirade against a woman promoting beer at a hypermarket has apparently been fired from his job as a despatch rider.

Mohamad Edi Mohamad Riyars, who goes by the moniker “Edi Rejang”, informed Kepong MP Lim Lip Eng about the news.

According to Lim, the private company Edi worked at had let him go yesterday following uproar from netizens over his actions recorded on video, which has since gone viral.

Edi had earlier apologised to the woman he had berated and to the public. In the video of the apology, Lim was seated beside him.

“Edi had looked for me and asked me for help. He was crying as he spoke to me, he was afraid the police would come after him.

“I asked him what he wanted to do, and he said he wanted to apologise. And said he would do anything,” Lim told Malaysiakiniof his one-hour meet with Edi yesterday, stressing that DAP had not pushed him to make the apology.

“Even today, Edi telephoned me and was crying as he spoke on the phone. He was crying because he was afraid of being caught by the police,” he added.

In his apology, Edi had admitted his mistake and explained that his emotional outburst at the woman could have been due to being tired from work. 

He stressed that he was not racist, as he sent his children to a Chinese vernacular school and had Chinese friends.

Lim said that while the DAP has offered Edi legal aid, they will not assist him in looking for a new job.

Edi had not shared about his family’s financial situation when he met with Lim yesterday but the MP doubted he was well to do.

“How financially stable can a despatch be?,” the DAP lawmaker said when met at the Parliament lobby this evening.

Police probing incident

Lim previously lodged a police report over the original incident, and the police have since initiated an investigation under Section 509 of the Penal Code, which deals with offences involving words or gestures with the intention insult the modesty of a person.

This law carries a maximum five-year jail sentence, a fine or both upon conviction.

In the video clip published on Sunday, Edi can be heard aggressively questioning a Chinese woman working as a beer promoter at the non-halal section of a local hypermarket.

It is uncertain when the video was originally recorded, but Edi was heard asking for her race and if she could give out beer samples to "anyone".

The promoter kept her cool and responded to Edi in English, but he insisted that she must speak in Bahasa Malaysia because this is “bumi Melayu (Malay land)."

Before walking away, Edi had also made an obscene hand gesture and spewed obscenities at her. - Mkini