COMMENT | As expected, basikal lajak has become kereta lajak. That’s what happened recently when a 16-year-old crashed an MPV into two poor grass cutters in Kedah, killing one of them and seriously injuring the other.

On May 8, our transport minister, Wee Ka Siong, announced that “strict action” could be taken against the parents of the teenager. He explained, “Under the Road Transport Act, whoever allows their children or any underage person to drive their vehicle can be held liable. We need to protect the safety of pedestrians.”

Good, it’s about darn time that these careless, even out-of-control teens, are brought to account for their stunts. But the obvious question is: why wasn’t similar “strict action” taken against the parents of about 30 basikal lajak boys who were doing their “superman” stunts at 3.20am on Feb 18, 2017, on a three-lane highway in Johor Bahru?

As we all know, this resulted in a horrible accident where eight of them were killed. But it wasn’t the boys, or their parents, who were made responsible. Instead, it was the driver who was found guilty by the High Court of “reckless driving”.

The whole lajak controversy has brought out the rot...