ANTI-IMMIGRANT SENTIMENT RISING, EXACERBATED BY SOCIAL MEDIA
In his videos, Mr Sophian – who has been accused of stirring up anti-immigrant sentiments – goes up to migrants who work in restaurants or grocers and questions them on their right to work in Malaysia.
He has been filmed in Kuala Lumpur, Melaka, and Penang among other places and has also ambushed areas that have large populations of Rohingya refugees.
Some of his videos posted on TikTok have racked up hundreds of thousands of views.
His actions have generally been supported by many people who tell him to keep up his work.
“We love our country, so this has to be done. The foreigners are getting big headed and taking advantage. Continue the good work,” read a comment on one of his videos taken at Jalan Silang.
Mr Sophian, who heads a non-governmental organisation called Surplus, told CNA that he was only against undocumented migrants in the country as well as businesses that were owned by them.
He also takes issue with businesses that hire migrants and place them in front-facing positions such as cashiers, claiming that this takes away jobs from locals.
“Every country has laws and any foreigner who wants to come into the country has to abide by the laws,” said Mr Sophian.
He further claimed that his “ambushes” have been ongoing for more than a year to put pressure on the government to take action.
“This is a critical issue and I want Malaysians to see what is really happening on the ground. If I make a complaint online, it will take a long time for any action to be taken,” he said, adding that he believed the raids in Jalan Silang for instance were conducted after his “ambushes”.