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Daredevil Acts on Roads Common for Malay Teens, Result in More Deaths, K.T. Sam’s Case Was Just An Accident Waiting to Happen.
By Mihar Dias
(C) Copyright April 2022
Devils are supposedly chained in Ramadan yet some Malay teens in Johor are “daredevils”. Three more unnecessary teenage deaths on the road a few days ago in Masai Johor, added to the last 8, make this Ramadan a bloody victory for the devils in chains.
This has become a social ill that needs a whole village to fix, highlighted by Sam’s case that was just waiting to happen on one deadly night in the same state.
Do not call me a racist if I were to label these illogical behaviours of teenage daredevil acts on the road as being a Malay “thing”. Unfortunately, it is only common to Malays. It is a phenomenon amongst teenagers who happened to be Malays. No other ethnic group had been as closely associated with this phenomenon as young kids from the Malay community.
It’s time to put on our thinking caps and ponder why this is only common to one ethnic group and not others. That’s why I started by saying it needs a whole village to fix.
The adage “it takes a village to raise a child” means that an entire community must provide for and interact positively with children in order for them to experience growing up in a safe and healthy environment.
Sam Ke Ting’s accident happened in Johor Bahru at 3:20 am on Feb 18, 2017, five years ago. On April 22 2022 at 10:30 pm three teenagers were killed and one injured when they were racing on a road.
The daredevil acts of racing on highways of 1980s are still with us. We thought when all Mat Rempits were employed by delivery companies the problem was wiped out. The accident that happened this week shows the problem is still with us. Road racing is in the blood of Malay youths.
What happened to Sam 5 years ago might happen again because you can walk into any bicycle shop and buy a “basikal lajak”. Parents not knowing what love meant do still buy those bikes for their kids.
Perhaps the uncles in their 40s who used to race on highways in the 80s are still boastful of what they did when he was young, inadvertently inspiring his teenage nephews to do likewise.
The local ADUN and YBs who offered lip service dropped by to convey condolences at the funerals walked away and were distracted by other political issues like “khemah besar” a far bigger problem facing the nation and their own survival.
The police carried out raids and confiscated some bikes but lacked the manpower to aggressively enforced the law.
The Ketua Kampung, Imams, JKKK and lower-level elites were too preoccupied with politics. Our national leadership had little will to wipe out this teenage problem in the last 40 years.
The problem is not rooted on highways it is embedded within a specific community that neither has the will nor the power to raise kids in a meaningful way.
It’s time to get the village moving to raise the kid to be responsible adults of the future.
Perhaps a Swahili proverb might be appropriate here “Asiye funzwa na mamae hufunzwa na ulimwengu” means “Whomsoever is not taught by the mother will be taught by the world.” Or another in Kijita proverb “Omwana ni wa bhone,” regardless of a child’s biological parents, its upbringing belongs to the community.
Malays have a proverb too “bapak borek anak rintik” a child will have traits similar to his father, like father like son.
Malay fathers have to take the bull by the horns. Go solve this menace.
Mihar Dias is a content writer under Headliner by Newswav, a programme where content creators get to tell their unique stories through articles and at the same time monetize their content within the Newswav app.
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