ONE set of rules for you, another for me.
That was the insinuation by a social media post which recounted the experience of bringing home a luxurious Louis Vuitton (LV) bag through the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA).
It went on to recall the ordeal of going through rush hour on the Metro (one can only surmise in Paris) and after a prolonged time doing the math (taking into account the currency exchange rate and Value Added Tax (VAT) which can be removed if item is being taken overseas), the credit card was finally swiped.
The luxury luggage was hand-carried past the airport Customs. Lo and behold, the poster was taxed a princely sum of RM2,600 given it was a luxury LV luggage, meaning any saving from NOT paying the VAT vanished into the Malaysia Customs coffers.
The question posed was this – do VVIPs and their extended families ever get similarly taxed when on their overseas shopping sprees? Or was it reserved for ordinary folks like the poster who used the term “marhaen” (literary “commoners”).
The post was shared by digital creature Khairul Azri whose Facebook post has since generated 3.2K likes, 1.8K comments and a further 820 shares at time of publication which is testament that the poster did indeed strike a chord with many Malaysians.
Khairul Azri, however, could not hide his disbelief at the original post when commenting on a number of issues.
Firstly, it was a bit rich to be labelling oneself as ‘ordinary folk’ when one could afford a luxury bag that costs in the region of RM26,000 (based on the customs tax levied).
Secondly, the bag’s owner should have dismantled both the bag and its box by storing it in the luggage bag to evade tax.
Thirdly, it was also pointed out that the original poster could simply have gotten a purchase order to be made out, thus allowing the customer to collect the box and paper bag at a LV branch in Malaysia thereby negating the customs tax.
Reacting to Khairul Azri’s suggestion to throw away the packaging, one commenter noted that that would be discarding the snob appeal of purchasing said item.
Quite a few commenters also could not contain their cynicism that a person who could afford a LV bag addressed himself/herself as “marhaen”.
One commenter surmised that the original poster wasn’t actually concerned about the customs tax but rather only wanted to announce to the world that he/she had purchased a LV bag.
It is not known if the original post was made tongue-in-cheek. On the surface, labelling oneself “marhaen” while purchasing a LV bag may well be a tad much.
At a time when real ordinary folks are debating the price of everyday necessities and the biting cost-of-living-crisis, to show off in such a manner also seems a bit tone deaf.
One is free to spend an honest wage in any way they see fit. But spare us the colloquialisms that seek to place a LV customer in the same group of citizens who are trying to stretch every single sen. – July 11, 2025
