I was on the flight from Tawau to Kota Kinabalu, and this was during Chinese New Year break, like a month ago. The flight was not really full coz it was still Saturday and many people are planning to go back on Sunday. I was sitting alone on the 3th or 4th row at back of the flight, I can’t really remember where but there are still people sitting behind me. Sitting 2 rows in front of me were this 3 ‘Mat Saleh’ people, Caucasian I think, maybe Aussie or American, can’t really tell. After we landed safely at Kota Kinabalu airport, I was like stretching my body and yawning big wide open while saying ‘Allahhuakbar’, which is a phrase that Muslims use to praise the One God, and I’ve been using it since high school to avoid saying stupid things like ‘oh pocot, mak kau’ or ‘shxx, motherfxxxker’. Living in majority Muslim country, most Sabahan or local passengers didn’t really care what I had just said. But the 3 westerners in front of me were immediately; I mean like in a second, turn their heads and look at me in shock. I also surprised seeing their pale white faces with an open mouth looking at me like I’m a criminal or doing something wrong here. Here I am, sitting alone near the rear window, wearing a simple hijab, t-shirt and jeans, and I just said ‘Allahhuakbar’…. Do I looked like a terrorist ??? I guess not, coz they were looking at each other after that and start laughing out loud. I still don’t get it and so do the rest of the passengers, but after putting all the pieces together I was like, oh…. They thought I was gonna blow up the plane…WHAT!!!
