CAP: The Country Needs A Permanent Solution For Mat Rempits

The Consumers’ Association of Penang is demanding the authorities to put an end to the Mat Rempit menace once and for all.

Illegal street racing has been going on for decades without any solid solution to resolve the social problem.

With the recent incident at the Lim Chong Eu expressway, the time has come for the government and respective authorities should come together to find a permanent solution to this problem.

Most of these illegal street racers (or Mat Rempit) are youths and perform all stunts on their motorcycles without considering their safety as well as that of other road users.

Also, these street racers tend to modify their motorcycles into racing machines and such modifications are being done by the motorcycle shop operators. Therefore, the government must look at disallowing these shops from carrying out any modifications. A multi-agency task force has to be established to consider criminalizing motorcycle modification by shop operators, confiscated motorcycles involved in illegal races be destroyed, and the Mat Rempits be made to perform social duty as practised by our neighbour Singapore under the Corrective Work Order (CWO).

Most people have blamed the Mat Rempits on poor discipline at school as well as at home. All these can be traced back to the kind of education system that we have today. Discipline has to be fostered from a very young age until the children become adults. They carry everything they have acquired at school and at home into their adulthood and into the outside world.

Today the police have difficulty enforcing the laws because of weak enforcement over the years and also because of the complacency in disciplining the children by their parents.

Parents have to be responsible for their kids and be aware of what their kids are up to all the time. They cannot plead ignorance if their children are not in bed late at night till early morning. The authorities have to educate young parents on family planning and good parenting. They may be struggling to put food on the table or otherwise the children are from dysfunctional families. The authorities need to be strict with parents and enforce the laws accordingly.

Mohideen Abdul Kader
President
Consumers Association of Penang (CAP)

Press Statement, 20 July 2022

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