Netizens go gaga with clip of The Flash’s Grant Gustin speaking in Malay to his wife

One of the easiest ways for Caucasians to impress Asians is by speaking their language, and this one’s no different. 

Malaysian and Singaporean Malays have had their hearts going soft seeing Hollywood actor Grant Gustin (of The Flash TV series fame) making an endearing attempt at uttering a Malay phrase. 

Getting pestered on camera by his wife, Andrea LA Thoma, Grant is seen flapping her hands away as he meekly emits “jangan kacau”, which means “don’t disturb” in Malay. It could also be used to mean "don't mess with me", as Andrea captioned on her Instagram post on Wednesday (Jan 15).

The level of adorability goes up when his wife tries to get him to say it properly. Okay fine, it is a sweet moment. Even Grant's CW Network co-star Melissa Benoist (aka Supergirl) couldn't help but chime in the comments section. 

[embed]https://www.instagram.com/p/B7UCaKVhrsN/[/embed]

Grant, who plays Barry Allen on TV, has a Malaysian connection through his wife, an American-born physical therapist with roots in Sabah as a half-Kadazan. 

[embed]https://twitter.com/shzchrh/status/1150950634171977728[/embed]

Born and raised in Ohio, Andrea’s family makes it a point to return to Sabah every few years to keep in touch with their Borneo heritage. She’s able to speak a little Malay and Kadazan thanks to her mother, and it seems like Grant is getting some education at home about common Malay phrases too. 

READ: 'The Flash' actor gets hitched in Sabah

It should go without saying that Malay-speaking netizens are completely enamoured watching the little interaction posted on Andrea’s Instagram account — footage of which found its way onto Twitter. 

[embed]https://twitter.com/fancyrobbo/status/1217328896539938817[/embed]

[embed]https://twitter.com/sbrinamran/status/1217262108368179200[/embed]

[embed]https://twitter.com/MATOKI_2/status/1217226978513903617[/embed]

[embed]https://twitter.com/SyahirahSkylar/status/1217311832127328256[/embed]

[embed]https://twitter.com/danialbek/status/1217360681495744517[/embed]

[embed]https://twitter.com/ee_fikry/status/1217233174029160459[/embed]

[embed]https://twitter.com/sungIows/status/1217326108397297664[/embed]

ilyas@asiaone.com