You're missing out one important bit:
It became abundantly clear to Mr Wright and Mr Nam they had more in common than their nationality. Both they and every one of the 30 or so other people arrested in the same raid were black.
Sad to say, but this kind of treatment is regretfully common in throughout South-East, where skin color is still associated with status (pale = idle upper class, dark = manual laborer). And they both could have avoided this by carrying their passport with them, which is required by law in Malaysia and most other countries in the region.