YOURSAY | 'There is no political will. There is no desire to change.'
COMMENT | Govt clueless about Mat Lajak, Mat Rempit menace
KINIGUIDE | The bicycle tragedy court rulings revisited
Way To Go: Mat Rempit and Mat Lajak are not your typical teenagers who love to have harmless fun late at night away from their parents’ preying eyes. They are a menace on the roads who gamble their lives without concern for the lives of other road users.
I believe some of the parents are well aware of their children's stunts, and their modified two-wheelers may have probably even been financed by the parents themselves.
I am referring to some parents who were said to have heaved a sigh of relief when the High Court sentenced Sam Ke Ting to six years in jail and an RM6,000 fine in lieu of an additional six months’ imprisonment. These are the parents who should take some measure of responsibility for neglecting their children.
As for the authorities, who are duty-bound to enforce the traffic rules and provide a safe highway for road users, the Mat Rempit and Mat Lajak issues seem like a matter beyond their ability.
Like everything else in Malaysia, this is considered too sensitive to be spoken about, let alone addressed. Politically incorrect perhaps?
Anonymous_15897060865429524: Columnist Mariam Mokhtar, don’t you know? It’s no one's fault that the Mat Lajak and Mat Rempit menace continues to flourish. They are all “victims”. It is the fault of “society”.
Mat Lajak, Mat Rempit, child brides, teenage pregnancy, ketum, etc - there is no political will to stop these things because it will risk the Malay votes.
One of the threats to the ‘ketuanan’ mindset (which is a political tool of control) is an educated and successful Malay society. The smarter and the more successful they are, the more likely they are to reject race- and religion-based politics. They are a threat to existing power structures.
So, I feel it is in the interests of the ‘ketuanan’ operatives to let the Malays indulge in their self-destructive jollies so that they can be easily led by the nose and always need a "protector".
Boaty McBoatface: I agree. There is no political will. There is no desire to change.
Do you want the opposite of the above? Let's try to imagine that these Mat Rempit and Mat Lajak were of another race. Watch how fast action will be taken.
You have to ask yourself why is this so? Only then, you'll get to the root cause of the problem. This is a far deeper problem than just being a menace to road users.
Falcon: To put it plainly, the issue here is about the presence of legitimate and illegitimate road users. The law of the land is crystal clear. Yet we are told this is about ”reckless driving”.
Evidence and facts have pointed clearly to those who have absolutely no right and justification to participate in what is clearly illegal activity, at the wrong place and time.
But in Malaysia, it’s all about race and religion, it’s about pacifying the Malay Muslim base and operatives.
So, even with hard evidence and facts staring at us, there is no political will to address this deep-seated problem.
The same argument is whenever our political elites steal, sell the family silver, abuse power or are exposed to being a closet homosexual. Are they “victims”, “selective prosecution” or a conspiracy?
In this ecosystem of denial, delusion, failure to act, failure by parents, and those expected to protect the public interest and uphold the law, we are told to invest in a dashcam.
Where are the rights and justice for the legitimate road and highway users?
Newday: The Mat Rempit and Mat Lajak often post their videos on social media, including when the police turn up to put a stop to their antics. You can always hear the laughter and not-so-nice comments about the police.
They don’t seem to bother. It is like they’re showing a collective big middle finger to law enforcers.
How about social media platforms? Should they have an obligation to ban what is considered lawless behaviour from their platforms? It would certainly reduce the egos of those participating in such activities.
Goliath: The High Court judgment against Sam sounded like it was done based on the technicality of the accused deciding to give an unsworn statement from the dock, rather than on details of the incident.
The accused has every right to be on that road. The cyclists with those modified bicycles were not.
No one drives recklessly on dark roads if there isn’t anything to be reckless about on those roads. Unless we are saying that she decided to drive recklessly upon seeing the cyclists on the road, which truly doesn’t make any sense.
Is this prosecution supposed to bring a message across that we shouldn’t be driving on dark roads in the middle of the night? Or should it be sending a message that you should never have your kids joyriding on modified bikes without brakes on dark roads?
Which one is the appropriate message the laws are supposed to be for?
Jordan Tan: Listen to what philosopher Yuval Noah Harari has to say about social ills as a distraction to the masses who are clueless and ignorant about the agenda of the elites.
He said: “When you live under such an oligarchy, there is always some crisis or the other that takes priority over boring stuff such as healthcare and pollution.
“If the nation is facing external invasion or diabolical subversion, who has the time to worry about overcrowded hospitals and polluted rivers?
“By manufacturing a never-ending stream of crises, a corrupt oligarchy can prolong its rule indefinitely.”
The very people who have the solution to solve social problems are not doing anything because of their own selfish agenda. Don't ever look to the government to solve social ills in this country.
