The beating, which was recorded and uploaded in a video that went viral, caught the attention of police who rushed to the scene – a funeral parlour – and rescued the heavily-tattooed man and arrested the assailant on Friday night.

Penang CID chief Senior Asst Comm Zainol Samah told The Star that initial investigations revealed the victim was whipped because he had insulted a deceased “Datuk” on Facebook.

Incidentally, the whipping incident occurred a day after Penang witnessed a shooting rampage where a businessman, Datuk Ong Teik Kwong, and seven others were shot. Ong and two others were killed, while the rest were seriously injured.

It is, however, not known if the whipping incident was linked to Ong’s murder.

“The man was picked up by the Datuk’s men and brought to a funeral parlour where he was beaten. Upon receiving a tip-off from the public, police went to rescue the man and brought him to the police station where he made a report.

“Police have acted on the report and arrested the man who hit him in the video,” SAC Zainol told The Star.

The 1.42 minute video clip showed the man being stripped of his top, made to lie on the floor and whipped 47 times. He was whipped repeatedly after replying “yes” when asked in Hokkien if he knew the “Datuk”.