Road Rage and Finger Gestures: The Malaysian Greeting
Road Rage and Finger Gestures: The Malaysian Greeting If you drive in Malaysia long enough, you will learn a new, unofficial language. It doesn’t involve words, grammar, or courtesy. It involves horns, headlights, sudden braking, and—most famously—finger gestures. Recently, the news reminded us how ugly this “language” can get, when a road rage incident ended with an elderly driver being assaulted and the MPV driver going to jail. Sad, shocking, but also painfully familiar. Let’s not pretend this came out of nowhere. In Malaysia, road rage is almost a national sport. We are friendly people on land—smiling at kopitiams, chatting in lifts, saying “tak apa” even when it is very much apa . But put us behind the steering wheel, and suddenly we transform. The car becomes armour. The road becomes a battlefield. And every minor inconvenience feels like a personal insult to our ancestors. Someone cuts into your lane? How dare they. Someone drives slowly? Confirm idiot. Someone h...