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It behooves the transport minister to come clean and tell the public why Section 42 of the Road Transport Act is not being used on the Mat Rempits. Is it because the mandatory fine of not less than RM5,000.00 for the first offence is too harsh, as those unable to pay will have to serve time in prison, and that may cost the government some votes? Why is the government giving them face?

Numerous incidents involving Mat Rempits have been reported over the years, the latest just two days ago about a homeless man who was decapitated after being run over by illegal racers in Shah Alam.

He was mowed down by at least two of three motorcycles racing down the road. The report said the first bike rammed the man, knocking him down, and the other bike ran over him. The impact left the man with a severed head and broken leg.

The Mat Rempit menace has been with us for about 25 years. They are now called ‘samseng jalanan’. The re-branding was done a few years ago to reflect their aggressive and very dangerous behaviour on the roads that has caused many accidents, injuries and deaths.

However, other than re-branding them, nothing has been done seriously to take them off the roads.

It is surely not the absence of any law to tackle them. Section 42 of the Road Transport Act on reckless and dangerous driving provides as follows:

“(1) Any person who drives a motor vehicle on a road recklessly or at a speed or in a manner which having regard to all the circumstances (including the nature, condition and size of the road and the amount of traffic which is or might be expected to be on the road) is dangerous to the public shall be guilty of an offence and shall on conviction be liable to punished with imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years and to a fine of not less than five thousand ringgit and not more than fifteen thousand ringgit and, in the case of a second or subsequent conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years and to a fine of not less than ten thousand ringgit and not more than twenty thousand ringgit and...

(2) The court shall order particulars of any conviction under this section to be endorsed on any driving licence held by the person convicted.

(3) A person convicted under this section shall be disqualified from holding or obtaining a driving licence for a period of not less than two years from the date of the conviction and, in the case of a second or subsequent conviction, be disqualified for a period of ten years from the date of the conviction”.

The law shows Parliament clearly had the intention to make roads safer by teaching reckless drivers a lesson. Was this intention for real or just to placate the public by having a law on paper?

All the excuses for not being able to control the Mat Rempits do not hold water. It really looks like the enforcement agencies either have no heart to enforce, or are under political instructions not to use Section 42 on the Mat Rempits.

Laws on paper are not worth the paper they are written on. If it was thought that having Section 42 in the Road Transport Act would act as a deterrent to road-ragers and Mat Rempits, the mayhem on the roads is proof that it has not been a deterrent.

Laws don’t work that way, i.e. having them in print to show they exist, or even to teach them in driving schools. Their existence is seen in their enforcement. If they are not strictly enforced, without fear or favour, on a continuing basis (not during campaigns), in reality they don’t exist.

Mat Rempits have been rounded up from time to time, but why are they let off without being charged under Section 42?

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