Over the past two days, Malaysian social media has been rife with comments, responses and debates surrounding a tweet by Shazwan Zulkiffli, one telling the wider public that his friend Megat Salleh, someone he describes as a best friend and a brother, was a sexual predator.
Megat, a guitarist with the band Night Skies & Visions, was caught after friends discovered that he was stealing underwear from a fellow musician’s house while under the guise of “hanging out.” The woman who hosted the get-together had noticed that every time Megat visited, another pair of her knickers would go missing.
Wanting to get to the bottom of the matter, she set up a GoPro camera in her bedroom, and waited. Shazwan recounted that Megat was in and out of her “unattended” bedroom within 10 seconds: “Like a pro!” he wrote.
After confronting him — with a camera rolling! — Megat admitted his guilt, saying it was an impulsive decision. However, when pressed further, he admitted that it happened more that three times, though the victim recalls at least six incidents of missing undergarments.
You can peep the whole thread here:
Have you ever had a really close friend who you thought you knew for years, that turned out to be a sexual predator all along? Yea, we just found out. This is a thread.
— Shazwan Ze (@ZeSpoooky) June 24, 2018
Shortly after the thread went live, Malaysian netizens found themselves divided, with some applauding the fact that Shazwan was bold enough to take a predator to task. They argued this was not aib (“shame”) to brush under the rug, but genuine predator behavior that needed to be exposed for all of the wrong that it carried.
Others said that such a public shaming was tantamount to the bullying of someone who was “ill” and simply “hyper-sexual” (Ed. Note: Is that what we’re calling this B.S. now? Get atta here).
While one might find it shocking that even after the global #MeToo movement of holding predators to accountability, there are still apologists out there, the worst was still yet to come.
Hours later, one of Megat’s fellow band members, Celyn, issued a statement saying he was no longer part of the band. Not only that, but she also had a story to tell of her own experience, one that she hoped would give the apologists something to think about.
https://twitter.com/celynling/status/1011186036850896896
Writing that she had become “as close as family an ever be” during the nine years she’d known the accused, she had noticed a strange behavior from Megat when she needed to use the loo: He would insist on using it first.
Finding it odd that every time she needed to go, he would find a way to go before her, she soon discovered why: He had left his phone just above the toilet, with the camera on, pointed down, and recording while she was inside.
She even used her own phone to record the “view” he was positioned to get — it’s honestly, quite disturbing.
https://twitter.com/celynling/status/1011189147032215552
Confronting him, he said it was all a joke, but Celyn writes that she knew deep down that wasn’t the case, despite not wanting to believe such sordid things about a close friend.
After posting her story, another victim came forward to describe a similar incident, and she knew that “second chances” were grossly misplaced: He was a compulsive predator, using his own friends, the ones who trusted him most, as his victims.
Lessons to be learned? Shazwan thinks that while such public outings make for uncomfortable exchanges, it’s important to get it out there, to stop perverse behavior from recurring, and to confront the perpetrators. “Even when they’re your best friend,” he added ominously.
Megat has since deleted his Twitter account, while no word yet on if any of the victims will be filing police reports against him.
