Mat Rempit ride to other states

Thursday October 12, 2006 : Article from The Star

KOTA BARU: With the police stepping up enforcement against them, Mat Rempit are moving their activities out of the Klang Valley.

The illegal motorcycle racers are now meeting in neighbouring states, and some even in rural spots, to escape the long arm of the law, Deputy Internal Security Minister Datuk Mohd Johari Baharum said.

ARMY OF BIKERS: File picture taken last month of Mat Rempit gathering at a petrol station along Jalan Semantan in Kuala Lumpur in the early hours.

“However, they will still have to deal with the police, as a nationwide operation has been launched to clamp down on illegal racing and related social ills,” he said on Tuesday after breaking fast with the police personnel at their quarters in Kemunin here.

Johari reiterated that the ministry was serious about a proposal to seize the vehicles of Mat Rempit, and a study was being done to determine if this could be legislated.

The ministry, he added, was also looking into making parents accountable for the actions of their children who were Mat Rempit as other countries were enacting similar laws.

“Such legislation will create awareness among the people that they must play a role in curtailing social ills and not leave it solely to the Government,” he said.

He also confirmed that the ministry was looking into placing daun ketum juice under the Dangerous Drugs Act rather than the Poisons Act.

A growing number of youths, he noted, had been mixing daun ketum with terrapin blood and other substances to obtain a highly potent drink.

“The ministry needs to move with the changing trends in crime,” he said.

On a recent report in a Malay tabloid that Mat Rempit had been taking a concoction called air berani (fearless water), Johari said he had never heard of the drink.

According to the report, the potion – a mixture of tuak (palm wine) and terrapin blood normally taken before a race – makes Mat Rempit daring when performing their stunts.

“If there is such a potion, it is unhealthy and forbidden (under Islam),” Johari told reporters yesterday after presenting Hari Raya gifts to former policemen and widows of policemen who had died in service, Bernama reports.