Whipping, longer jail term for Mat Rempit
KUALA LUMPUR: Habitual illegal street racers or Mat Rempit will face whipping as well as a maximum 10-year imprisonment under proposed amendments by police to the Road Transport Act 1987.
At present, he said, those who were involved in illegal race were charged under Section 42 (1) of the Road Transport Act 1987, which carries a maximum RM15,000 fine or not more than five years' jail, and a two-year suspension of the driving licence.
The proposed new Section 42 (A) for first-time offenders provides the same jail sentence but a minimum fine of RM5,000 and a three-year suspension of licence.
For repeat offenders, the penalty is a maximum of 10 years' jail, three strokes of rotan, a mandatory RM10,000 fine and a mandatory five-year suspension of the driving licence.
Another new sub-section, Section 42 (A) (B) of the act, will allow police to seize motorcycles which would be disposed of with or without a court order once offenders are convicted of the offence.
Speaking after the launch of the Anda Bijak, Anda Selamat road safety campaign organised by Public Bank here yesterday, Hamza said police had also wanted to act against spectators of illegal races but it was rejected by a committee chaired by the Transport Ministry.
"The proposal was dropped as there would be problems in differentiating between spectators and passers-by."
He said police would gather information on illegal race organisers and would forward the case files to Bukit Aman and the Home Ministry for action.
Action against them included sending them to the Sim-pang Renggam detention centre or putting them under restricted residence, he added.
On Wednesday, the Kuantan Magistrate Court sentenced illegal street racer Ahmad Afzal Sabari Zumadi, 28, to two years' jail, fine of RM6,000 and a two-year suspension of his licence.
Present during the road safety campaign launch was Federal Internal Security and Public Order director Datuk Hussin Ismail, who commended Public Bank for helping police educate school children on the dangers of illegal street racing.
Public Bank founder and chairman Tan Sri Teh Hong Piow said the bank would distribute 50,000 copies of the Road User Information Guide to schools through the Education Ministry.
COMMENTS:
Our national leaders and Police Personnel on overseas trip should learn from their counterparts in other parts of the world on how they handle juvenile delinquency, society menace like mat rempit, drug addicts and the like. Are there any studies that show the danger of jailing youth above 21 in mixed jail whereby hardcore and seasoned criminals intermingle with green thugs or youth caught on petty offences but had no one to bail them, hence sent to jail? Occasionaly I watch TV programmes like "the prison break" and it seems that a lot of learning takes place in prison, a lot of skill set and mind set are developed whilst serving jail sentence. This is not to mention practices like homosexuality and what nots. I personally quite agree with whipping as a form of punishment since whipping itself strike terror in the hearts of would be mat rempit, or criminals for that matter. By the way, punishment should be a deterrent to further crimes rather than a form of "rest and treat or R&R" in our prisons whilst enjoying free board and meals.
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