Hungry Rakyats Trend #SiBodohKauDengarSini On Twitter

#SiBodohKauDengarSini Twitter trend

Food is a big part of our lives. And for busy Malaysians, relying on takeaway food or food delivery services on busy work days is part of our routines. So with round 2 of MCO imposing a new list of guidelines, including mandatory closing hours of 8PM for businesses, we’ve been trying our best to work around the limitations once again.

But it isn’t always as simple as it seems. As netizens raising their concerns on Twitter over the current opening hours for restaurants during the MCO show, as the hashtag #SiBodohKauDengarSini – or “Listen here, idiot” – began trending with over 50,000 tweets yesterday, 18th January 2021.

Many have been using the hashtag to call for extended opening hours for restaurants due to issues faced by restaurant staff, delivery riders, and those with a daily 9-to-5 job due to SOPs under the current MCO.

Netizens raise concerns over opening hours during the MCO

The discussion on Twitter began with a netizen, who goes by the handle @farhanazahan, tweeting about how he skipped dinner twice because his orders placed at 5PM fell through. He went to look for other restaurants to order from, only to find out that they had already closed. To this, another netizen came out to offer a suggestion, tweeting that he could order a day before and have leftovers the next day to circumvent the pickle he’s in.

However, this didn’t sit well with another Twitter user @yarafaee_, who presumably works in the F&B sector. She posted several tweets to explain how it wasn’t as simple as it seems. One of her tweets was the a fiery start calling out the netizen, that led to the trending hashtag #SiBodohKauDengarSini – which garnered over 16,000 tweets in the span of 3 hours.

Image adapted from: @yarafaee_

Her tweet can be translated from Malay to English as:

“Listen here, idiot. Operating hours for businesses are from 11AM-8PM, and every citizens’ orders are between this time only. This overloads and jams the food ordering system for FoodPanda and Grab [delivery riders]. Those who return home from work have little time to cook too, because they need to wake up early the next morning to work again.”

To put this into perspective, she shared in a follow-up tweet that she couldn’t take breaks and had to work overtime to help out her colleagues, who couldn’t handle the overload of orders. When she eventually got off work, she didn’t even have the energy to drive home, let alone, cook dinner.

In a similar incident, myBurgerLab, a homegrown burger joint, took to Facebook on 16th January to apologise to their hungry customers after they were unable to keep up with orders. This was because they had an “avalanche of orders that got backlogged on our delivery partner’s side” from “orders that came in past 7.30PM”.

Others also come out to share similar situations

In solidarity with the OP’s tweet, many also came out to share their own experiences with trying to order takeaway food or opting for food delivery services during the current MCO, while also tweeting out the viral hashtag and causing it to trend.

Netizen @Kashalia26 tweeted, “[My] husband had to rush back home to buy dinner just now. He made it at 7.30PM, but all the restaurants were closed anyway. [This is] because they ration food so that there won’t be [any leftovers] when they have to close at 8PM.”

Image adapted from: @Kashalia26

Sharing the same struggles of kitchen staff during the MCO, Twitter user @justcallmesyl_ tweeted: [The] kitchen gets hella busy past 6PM until none of the staff can have a break for dinner. We can order dinner earlier, but obviously [we’ll] get hungry again after the 6PM GrabFood peak hours. We have to clean [the] kitchen as well, don’t forget. Even worse for the [delivery] riders by the way.”

Image credit: @justcallmesyl_

Netizens react to the viral hashtag

The hashtag took the No. 1 trending topic spot on Twitter in Malaysia for 9 hours yesterday, 18th January. Aside from the discussions it was bringing to light from concerned working Malaysians, it also brought a whole lot of netizens calling the hashtag the new slogan of 2021.

Malaysian comic artist, Ernest Ng, known for his “Bro, don’t like that la, bro” webcomics, joined in on the discussion on Twitter, posting, “#SiBodohKauDengarSini is my new favourite hashtag.”

Image adapted from: @ernestngBRO

With Malaysians already bringing MCO-related memes to the table to help cope with the rollercoaster ride that 2020 has been, many have also been using the hashtag as a meme. Netizen @charisloke, for one, took a popular meme from a game, but with the hashtag and tudung added to the character for a local touch.

Image adapted from: @charisloke

Netizens trend #SiBodohKauDengarSini On Twitter

Guidelines from the MCO have been put in place to help curb the spread of COVID-19. But it’s no secret that it’s been tough on many – from individuals whose means of living have been affected to businesses that are facing limitations under SOPs. As shown by these netizens’ concerns in the Twitter hashtag trend, it seems that restaurant staff, delivery riders, and working Malaysians are also affected.

So while we wait for better days ahead, let’s all continue to observe SOPs and hope that case numbers fall, so that we don’t have to extend the MCO by another 2 weeks on 26th January.