"Chope" culture, otherwise known as "reservation culture", is one of the quintessential Singaporean practices.

However, it appears some overzealous Singaporeans who ventured into Malaysia ended up bringing this habit with them -- to the annoyance of Malaysians.

Used bodies to reserve parking lot

The alleged anti-social, uncultured, and uncivil behaviour exhibited by the passengers of a Singapore-registered car occurred in Petaling Jaya, Selangor -- a four-hour drive from Singapore.

The incident took place right outside the famous Cow Brother Kafe.

Incident recounted in tweets

The incident was relayed via a series of tweets on Aug. 11 by Sumisha Naidu, a journalist who used to work for CNA.

Sumisha wrote that the group of passengers from a Singapore-registered BMW car ran ahead into a parking lot and reserved it with their bodies.

The group then allegedly told Sumisha, who had wanted to park in the lot: "“If you don’t move, you’ll cause a jam."

The group apparently then took note of Sumisha's car plate number, possibly in a bid to intimidate her.

They only walked off when Sumisha took photos of them:

These are the series of tweets:

Sumisha's initial tweet blew up and was retweeted more than 3,000 times.

Some clarifications

She subsequently tweeted some clarifications, such as not realising that the white BMW vehicle was actually a Singapore-registered car, and that she was glad for the support and shared outrage, but did not want it to descend into a racial thing.

Illegal to reserve a lot

Subsequent retweets and replies by Malaysians then highlighted that reserving a parking lot is, in fact, illegal in Malaysia:

Other replies egged Sumisha to report the matter to Malaysian authorities as she had the Singapore-registered vehicle's number, while other internet sleuths allegedly found information pertaining to the white BMW's road tax status.

You can read the original tweets here separately:

I don’t usually do this. But since they sent a guy to come & intimidate me after I will. These guys ran ahead to a parking spot & chopped it and refused to allow me to park. “If you don’t move, you’ll cause a jam,” they said indignantly when I said you can’t chop parking 🤦🏾‍♀️ pic.twitter.com/pESfj78ftZ

— Sumisha Naidu (@sumishanaidu) August 11, 2019

They then made a note of MY number plate and said “whatever” when I asked why they were looking into my car, only walking off when I took a photo. https://t.co/mfERfx1frU

— Sumisha Naidu (@sumishanaidu) August 11, 2019

Do you chop parking in Singapore? That might explain it. https://t.co/mfERfx1frU

— Sumisha Naidu (@sumishanaidu) August 11, 2019

Thank you guys for the support and shared outrage but
• let’s not make it about race
• was not aware it was a Singaporean car when I tweeted (“blinded” by rage 😂) - but yes, I know not all Singaporeans are like this
• ”chope” or “cop” might have been the better spelling 🤓

— Sumisha Naidu (@sumishanaidu) August 11, 2019

And PSA. It IS illegal to chope/ chop/ cop a parking space. https://t.co/D7Hksw4N3R

— Sumisha Naidu (@sumishanaidu) August 11, 2019