‘Porky’ squid rings need fixing

There used to be a famous roti canai stall in George Town, Penang back in the 90s. People would queue up in zig zags for their soft crispy rotis and thick aromatic dhal, especially during the weekends. Their business was so good that they would finish selling all their rotis by mid-morning.

With their business going so well, eventually a couple of competitors started setting up stalls nearby, offering similar menus. Unfortunately, the only time customers visited the competitors were when the famous stall was sold out for the day.

Not too long after, someone began spreading shocking news about bits and pieces of faeces found on the roti canai sold by the famous stall. According to the people spreading the news, the workers making roti canai at the stall do not wash their hands properly after every toilet break.

Apparently, they were rushed to get back to their work to attend to the orders and did not have sufficient time to wash up, causing traces of faeces to stick around their ring. And when they continued flattening roti canai doughs, the faeces around the ring were transferred to the rotis.

When I first heard the news from a relative who frequented the famous stall often, I was in disbelief. To my best of knowledge, most roti canai makers do not wear anything on their hands during working hours as it interrupts the process of flattening the rotis.

And even if they did, it is not normal for faeces to stick around one’s ring no matter how messy their shitting process is (I am trying hard not to visualise it).

However, my relative was convinced that the news was true. She went on to share it with every family member, neighbour and acquaintance, urging everyone to boycott the stall.

The news about roti canai covered in faeces was then spread around and eventually, the famous stall lost all its customers to their competitors. They closed business not long after.

More than 10 years later, I heard the news circulating again, this time it was linked to a roti canai stall in Teluk Intan, Perak. Basically, the storyline was the same - a customer found brownish spots on his roti canai, leading him to check the roti canai makers’ hands and ultimately found bits of faeces around the ring.

I don’t know how the allegation affected the stall in Teluk Intan, but I was convinced that the fake news had already been recycled a few times over the years before I heard it the second time.

Sadly, this kind of news will continue to make its rounds and many people will continue to believe them without fact-checking first.

And while people’s lives get destroyed, the culprits spreading this fake news never get punished.

Squid rings with pig DNA

When allegations were recently made in social media that frozen squid rings sold in the market were made from pig intestines and mixed with squid flavour, I face-palmed. I immediately remembered a similar incident a few years ago where Cadbury chocolates were accused of containing pig fat.

As per the squid rings, even before proper investigations were completed, people continued to spread the allegations, calling for serious actions and having shopkeepers discard the ‘contaminated’ products.

Finally, after causing a lot of damage to its brand and reputation, Cadbury chocolates were declared not to contain any pig DNA.

And as expected, no one took responsibility for the whole fiasco. No apologies were given. Everyone just continued with life, well except those whose lives were screwed up by the baseless accusation in the first place.

Today, as authorities come forward declaring that no traces of pig DNA were found in the frozen squid rings, everyone is ready to end this episode and move on with the next thing on their list to be obsessed about.

Once again, no one will take responsibility and no apology will be made.

But surely, in time, another product will be accused of containing pig DNA and the whole cycle repeats itself. This fake news always gets recycled anyway.

Plain ignorant or malicious intention?

Most people who spread false information do so unknowingly and without malice. They share and forward information not knowing that what they are sharing might harm someone.

These people are simply ignorant. Their mistakes can be forgiven and they can be educated to identify unreliable sources and do fact-checking so the same thing does not repeat in the future.

However, there are people who create and spread false information with the intention to defame someone or some institution. We need to distinguish these people with malicious intent from those who just do not know any better.

The authorities must play their role to bring those spreading false information with malicious intent to face the law. These people should not be let off the hook easily.

Their race, religion and background should not play any part in reducing the weight of their actions.

So far, the authorities have been lenient with the culprits despite being forced to conduct investigations to find substantial evidence against the allegations. Resources have been wasted.

Malaysian taxpayers deserve assurance that those at fault will take the blame and face the repercussions.

We cannot and we must not ignore any accusations made with the intention to defame others. If we don’t fix this problem now, more false information with baseless allegations will pop up as our cyber-population grows.

We must demand action to be taken. Now. - Mkini

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FA ABDUL is a multi-award winning playwright and director in the local performing arts scene, a published author, a television scriptwriter, a media trainer and a mother. Her ultimate mission in life is to live out of a small suitcase.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.