Woman universally criticized after FB rant against giving train seat up to pregnant lady goes viral

The battle to get one of the much-coveted seats on Jakarta’s crowded KRL Commuterline trains truly brings out the worst in some people.

Recently, a Facebook user by the name of Safira Nabila Cahyaningtyas got her 15 minutes of Internet infamy after a Facebook rant she posted about why she shouldn’t have had to give up her seat to a pregnant woman on the KRL Commuterline went viral. The rant was written in an amazingly self-righteous manner for somebody who clearly doesn’t understand basic human decency, and is also incredibly long.

Here’s a translated TL;DR:

• Safira was among the first people to board the morning train from Bogor to Tanah Abang, so she and her friend managed to get seats
• She fell asleep, but was soon awakened by a security guard who asked her to vacate her seat for a pregnant woman
• She had to stand up with most of the other commuters in the packed train, making her dizzy and that she “almost cried”
• The rest of the train ride was uneventful, but Safira proceeded to rant in her writing about how she lost respect for pregnant women who take up priority seats, and, in no clear logical terms, how they should not be entitled to priority seats whereas others, such as the disabled and the elderly, should be
• Safira further criticized the pregnant woman she gave her seat up for because she was playing on her phone instead of using the opportunity to sleep. She even posted a photo of the pregnant woman that she took discretely using her phone.

It’s not clear what Safira was expecting would happen by making this post public, but it inevitably drew the scorn of netizens nationwide after it went viral, with many pointing out that Safira epitomizes the selfish attitude of many KRL Commuterline passengers.

Amid the criticism, Safira deleted her Facebook account. She did however, post an apology for her inappropriate post before she went off the grid.

Speaking about the viral post, Commuterline Jakarta (KCJ) spokeswoman Eva Chairunisa reminded the public about why we should give up our seats to pregnant women on the train (even though everybody should already know this).

“Pregnant women are at risk of experiencing things that make them weak physically from conditions they have during pregnancy,” Eva told Kompas yesterday.

“Basically, this is about [passengers] having sympathy for one another.”

Seating on the KRL Commuterline is indeed a precious thing. There have been many anecdotes about passengers who are entitled to priority seating (pregnant women, the elderly, the disabled, and parents with small children) being forced to stand as some people go to despicable measures to keep their butts in their seats, such as those who pretend to be asleep or those who simply refuse to stand up.