PETALING JAYA: Pictures of a sporty red Honda CR-Z taken at the Taman Connaught, Cheras pasar malam went viral on Facebook recently for all the wrong reasons.

The vehicle was parked along the road in Taman Connaught on Wednesday (Jan 11), at an area where stalls were usually set up during the weekly pasar malam.

Not long after, pictures of the car bearing a Johor registration with a mountain of trash piled on top of it spread like wildfire over social media. This eventually sparked a lively debate between Malaysian netizens.

Netizens speculated that the vehicle must have blocked a night market vendor's spot thus deserved to be turned into a 'bright red trash can' as retribution for obstructing business.

Although many netizens thought the situation funny and agreed with the trash dumping, others were quick to point out that it could have been an honest mistake on the part of the car owner. They reasoned, judging from the Johor licence plate, the car owner was most likely from out of town thus unaware of the night market taking place.

There were also people who thought that as Malaysians, we should stay "civilised" regardless of what really happened. They said that the act of vandalising the car with garbage was uncalled for, even if the driver had intentionally parked his or her car there.

"Two wrongs don't make a right," a Facebook user commented.

Some netizens pointed out the need for the local council to put up more signages to inform the public about the operating days and times of the pasar malam.

Whatever the reason, the incident in Taman Connaght brings to mind a similar incident that was reported two months ago in Zhengzhou, China. A driver had illegally parked his car in front of a trash collection station in Zhengzhou ... only to return a few hours later to find about 10 tonnes of garbage thrown around his vehicle.

Talk about a nasty surprise.