Malaysian Mandopop fans vent anger at China concert scalpers

They are upset at being priced out of shows in Malaysia by Chinese nationals

- Lu Wei Hoong

Taiwanese band Mayday is due in Kuala Lumpur in January. Malaysians beaten to choice tickets by scalpers from China have taken to commenting in Malay on the Facebook page of concert promoter B'in Music.

(PHOTO: B'IN MUSIC/FACEBOOK)

Scroll down to the comments section of the Facebook page of concert promoter B'in Music, which is bringing Taiwanese band Mayday to Kuala Lumpur in January 2026, and you may find something remarkable: a sea of Malay words amid the usual Chinese comments.

One of the most frequently mentioned phrases was "lembu kuning", which means "yellow cow" in Malay. The term riffs on the Chinese slang for concert scalpers, which originated in 20th-century Shanghai, where labourers mobbed ticket counters like frenzied oxen to hoard tickets and resell them at a markup.

Here, the Malay comments came from ethnic Chinese concertgoers from Malaysia, who weaponised the local language to express frustration that they had been priced out of their home shows by scalpers from China, who snapped up tickets via bots and proxies.

"Yes, we queued up and waited but got tickets far away at the back. Yellow cows are selling tickets for front seats, in the middle with better views," user Ham ManChin wrote in Malay in a Dec 3 Facebook post.

"Too many yellow cows selling tickets. What can we do?" added another user, HappySong Jenny, also in Malay.

With Malay comments flooding the post, another user, Jannifer Hsiaomayi, joked by asking if the rock band actually sings in Malay instead of Mandarin.