KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 4 — Papagomo, the controversial blogger who has in the past faced police action for spreading unverified news, is in the spotlight again, this time over a video of him assaulting a foreign worker who allegedly harassed his two sisters and their friends.

The video uploaded yesterday has since gone viral with over 1.2 million views and has earned Papagomo or Wan Muhammad Azri Wan Deris high praise from Internet users who labelled him a “gentleman” and a “protective” brother for seeking justice for the women.

The video posted on Facebook starts off with Muhammad Azri asking someone offscreen which one of the four men, three of which he claims were foreign workers, had sexually assaulted her.

After identifying the alleged perpetrator, the blogger is then seen slapping, punching and kicking the worker who appears confused and said he did not understand what was happening.

“This is Malaysia you should respect Malaysian people. Don’t lying (sic) with me,” Muhammad Azri said in the video.

The video has since garnered close to 50,000 likes and shared over 26,000 times.

“Bestnya ada Abg pelindung mcm ni...rasa selamat berada diperantauan...you're the best brother. I'm proud of you.tapi sygnya saya tidak mempunyai abg,” Facebook user Sharmalyn Fadiera said, with her comment receiving 3,168 likes.

(Translation: How nice it must be to have a protective brother like this… Feel safe when abroad… You’re the best brother. I’m proud of you. Such a waste that I don’t have a brother)

Another Facebook user by the name Zaryna Isimanlocos Aryn Locos called Muhammad Azri a “gentleman” for his actions, adding that “a little violence (kekerasan)” will be impactful and can teach the foreign worker a lesson.

“Rse mcm nk sruh Abg ni jd bdyguard sy je...cmfirm selamat..bangla ..Nepal lgi truk prangai...tkut klo dorang ade sebelah,” another Facebook user by the name Mayu Cha said.

(Translation: I feel like asking this man to be my bodyguard... I will surely feel safe… Bangladeshi… Nepalese behaviours are worse… I feel afraid just having them beside me)

Muhammad Azri explained in the video caption that he felt it was necessary to take matters into his own hands as he believed lodging a police report would be ineffective.

“It’s not that I don’t believe in the police but it will take a long time and in today’s situation, it is quite difficult to drag a foreign worker like this to the police station and mistakes could lead to the case never being brought to justice,” he said.

“So I, as a brother, must take my own actions and to me, the assaulter needed to be taught a lesson,” he added.

Muhammad Azri shot to fame last year after he was arrested for spreading unverified information online linked to a bloody brawl in at local tech mall in Kuala Lumpur last June which left five people injured, three of whom were from Chinese media organisations.

More recently, the Court of Appeal in December ordered the former police officer to pay de facto opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim RM800,000 in damages over blog posts he published several years ago under the name “Papagomo” which the latter claimed to damage his reputation and cause him and his family to suffer.