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A 19-year-old in a Mercedes.
A 22-year-old in a BMW.
Five people dead.
A family wiped out.
According to police, the two luxury cars were allegedly travelling at high speed before one of them lost control and crashed into several oncoming vehicles. The 22-year-old BMW driver was killed. Four members of a family in a Toyota Vios were also killed, including a 10-year-old child.
As usual, Malaysians are asking the same questions: Should the surviving driver go to jail? Should the punishment be harsher? Should racing be treated as murder?
Fair questions.
But I have another question. Who raised these boys?
I am talking about the parenting culture that raises some youth to think they are different from the rest of us. That rules are negotiable, consequences are optional, and that enough wealth can solve almost any problem.
After all, if a child spends eighteen years getting away with everything, why would he suddenly expect accountability at nineteen?
A Mercedes does not magically appear in the hands of a teenager. Somebody bought it. Somebody insured it. Somebody paid the road tax. Somebody handed over the keys.
Many parents today are obsessed with giving their children what they never had. A better phone. A better car. A better life.
But somewhere along the way, some forgot to give them something equally important.
Discipline.
Limits.
The ability to hear the word "No."
The understanding that not every desire needs to be fulfilled.
The knowledge that just because you can afford something doesn't mean you are mature enough to handle it.
We talk a lot about privilege. Maybe privilege is not the Mercedes. Maybe privilege is growing up without ever hearing "enough."
Some parents measure success by how much they can provide. I wonder if real success is how much restraint they can teach.
Because every Malaysian has seen this type before. The young driver weaving through traffic. The one tailgating everyone. The one flashing headlights because apparently the road belongs to his ancestors.
The one who believes speed is a personality. The one who mistakes recklessness for confidence.
Nobody wakes up one morning and suddenly becomes that person. That mentality is built over years. One excuse at a time.
"He's still young."
"Boys will be boys."
"He didn't mean it."
"He's actually a good kid."
Perhaps.
Most people who cause tragedies are not villains. They are often ordinary people who spent years being protected from the consequences of their actions. And eventually reality sends them a bill.
The problem is that reality rarely sends the bill only to them. Sometimes the bill is paid by a family driving home in a Perodua or a Proton or a Toyota.
Sometimes the bill is paid by a child sitting in the back seat. Sometimes the bill is paid by people who never even knew the driver's name.
That is what makes these stories so painful. The innocent always seem to receive the harshest punishment.
Every time a tragedy like this happens, we talk about enforcement. More roadblocks. More cameras. More summonses.
Fine. Do all of that.
But perhaps the first road safety lesson should not come from the police. It should come from the dining table. From parents who teach their children that wealth is not superiority. That horsepower is not masculinity. That owning an expensive car does not make you important.
And that the most impressive thing a driver can do is arrive home without making the evening news.
Because if your teenager can handle a Mercedes but cannot handle self-control, then the problem was never the car. It was the upbringing.
And five graves later, that is a question Malaysia needs to start asking.
Fa Abdul (fa.abdul.penang@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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