Throttle to the stop

Tap illegal racers potential for more productive pursuits - NST 12/4/2006

ON weekend evenings in Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur, you are likely to encounter hundreds of motorcycles parked along Jalan Maarof, waiting for free displays of bravado and recklessness on motorised two-wheelers.

The Mat Rempits — the thrill-seeking street-racers on small-engined bikes — would race and whizz through traffic, doing wheelies, breaking most traffic rules, making a nuisance of themselves and endangering motorists. This scene is often repeated elsewhere in the country, in major towns and state capitals, weekly.

Following them like groupies would be hundreds of bikers who converge to see these silly and dangerous stunts. These bikers roam the highways, swarm city streets and ride as if they own the roads, riding three or four abreast, with a dozen or more in each posse.

Their sheer numbers can make them rather intimidating, especially if you encounter a score or so of them at traffic lights. They swerve in between cars, the collective roar of their engines deafening even through closed windows.

In groups, they are emboldened to break traffic laws and be a nuisance to others, and play cat-and-mouse games with the cops.

These young people are essentially trying to figure out what to do on Saturday nights on the cheap. They may not be able to afford RM10 cups of coffee, movie tickets or sky-high cover charges for discos and clubs, but like most young people, they are looking for a good time. A full tank gets one a fair distance and lasts till dawn, ending with an early cheap breakfast at a roadside stall. It is easy to despise them.

But most of these bikers are not the hardcore Mat Rempit who menace us for the thrill and money of illegal racing.

We should resist the temptation of shaking our heads and groaning at what has become of our youth. Should they not be at home, doing something other than prowling the streets on their machines?

These bikers are not the scum of society, as some think. Most are productive citizens and employed during the week. They may be despatch riders, pizza delivery men, your office colleagues, college students or your next-door neighbours.

It is so easy to judge them, but they are no different from other young people looking for thrills, raving in clubs or chilling out in pubs. It is only that their choice is the thrill of riding, and they have less disposable income for other more socially acceptable hedonistic pleasures.

As much as I don’t believe the Government should poke its nose into everything we do, such as being moral police, I do believe there must be something it can do about this phenomenon. These are youths in the prime of their lives, seemingly needing to channel their youthful energies into something.

Perhaps the Youth and Sports Ministry, whose budget includes millions for under-performing athletes, as well as the equally well-funded Women, Family and Community Development Ministry, could look into this phenomenon.

After all, both their ministers have been spotted in Bangsar, and could not have missed these weekly happenings. These bikers will not go away. We have to figure out a way to harness their potential.

This came out in the papers today. Yes, I was aMat Rempit too. Back then, I was exactly like them...no where to channel my energy. Jalan Bangsar (not Jalan Maarof) was the place to be on weekends. Jadi Superman, tunjuk skill angkat duit seposen atas tin at fast speed, excessive modifications..been there, done that. The potentials were there, if they had been discovered...who knows? They could have been a somebody in the racing fraternity.

Well..years have gone by. We're too old to race (legal or illegal) anymore. Most of us are doing ok now. Some are married (with kids), some are successful. But what we do regret back then was, like the article said..no where to channel our energy and harness our potential. Looks like this issue will never be solved. Never ever.