Friday, September 15, 2006

Fall off and die

I didn't want to cover this topic initially because it sort of extended into the whole nationally accepted question of 'what is happening to our country?', but since it came up on the first page of the papers today, I am inclined to comment.

We're talking about the so called 'mat rempits', or illegal motorcycle racers. The whole idea of that name conjures up images of gearbox fluid, crowds of people with unimaginable body odour and the annoying, ear piercing sounds of motorcycle engines revving away because petrol is cheap. The very thought makes me sick, but anyhow, its not about personal opinion, its about a national opinion. And its about chaos.

So we do know that these scums exist, but why then was effort made recently by the Putera UMNO for reconciliation efforts with abovementioned scum? Somebody in Putera UMNO figured it was the best way to deal with the problem by offering them a deal to be the 'eyes and ears' of the city in return for legalized racing on the streets. The very idea that this suggestion can even be mentioned indicates a flaw in a thought process somewhere, by someone. That's essentially telling bank robbers to notify the police if there is a bank robbery, but if you're going to do it, just do it quietly and don't wake the neighbours...okay? Please?

That reminds me of the recent deal General Musharraf had with Al-Qaeda that allowed them free use of Waziristan as their base of operations as long as they are not doing anything bad. Of course the US, and perhaps the world, is wondering what this means in the war against terrorism, but I suppose if one bows down to pressure, to maintain the safety of their citizens, then the easiest path, is the path of weakness.

But back to these scums of society. They are saying that there are only a few 'bad apples' who rob and steal, but the rest of them are generally okay, and some are even professionals and graduates! Big whoop. I can tell you that these are probably the same graduates that complain that they can't find a job after they graduate accounting for the rise of unrealistic unemployment rates in this country. There are jobs, but you just don't want to do them because you don't want to pay off your study loans.

Some of you sympathetic ones might ask, what really is the big problem here? For one, road safety. Nowhere in the world do they provision normal city roads for racing, legally that is, because it endangers the lives of road users who happen to come by, unless you're organized enough to cordon off that road to make sure nobody is on it. But they aren't as smart, or as caring. So, you'd normally see them flying around your car in a zigzag fashion which honestly speaking, makes me wanna just swerve into them in my pickup truck.

Second they contribute to tremendous noise pollution. I lived beside the highway and its impossible to sleep with them racing every night. They race at night because their logic dictates that less people are on the road at night, however they fail to note that people sleep at night.

Its time for somebody to act on these terrorists. We need a decisive action from someone who has the power to execute that order. For the rest of us, we can only hope they fall off and die.