GEORGE TOWN, April 19 — Additional procedures and harsher punishments involving ‘samseng jalanan’ (street thugs) under Section 81(1) of the Road Transport Act 1986 need to be made in an effort to eradicate such activities at the grassroots.
These findings were among the decisions made today at a Penang police contingent level strategic planning meeting held with several departments and agencies, to combat illegal racing and the mat rempit (illegal motorcycle racers) issue.
Penang police chief Datuk Mohd Shuhaily Mohd Zain said his team’s conclusion was that the role of the prevention and enforcement committee should be continued as well as improved with regard to several matters including in terms of legislation related to illegal racing.
“We agree that the authorities should increase the procedures and penalities under Section 81(1) of the Road Transport Act 1987 so that stricter measures are applied to mat rempit and there should be specific laws on parents, guardians (of street thug offenders) and spectators (bystanders).
“Our proposal is also to increase the rate of fines on motorcycle modifications and enact a law so that action can be taken on workshops that modify vehicles.
“All proposals will be submitted to the higher authorities, namely policymakers in Putrajaya and then brought to Parliament to enforce so that strict action can be taken against mat rempit and street thugs,” he told reporters here.
Mohd Shuhaily was met after chairing the meeting which was also attended by representatives from the Road Transport Department, Department of Environment, Ministry of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living, local authorities, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), state Education Department and Department of Islamic Religious Affairs.
Elaborating further, he said since the establishment of the committee to combat mat rempit activities in July last year, his party has found that their activities are on the downtrend and there are no more large-scale illegal racing activities in Penang.
He said since last July till yesterday, a total of 76 mat rempit, aged 16 to 36, had been arrested by police and a total of 5,009 were released in 206 operations conducted throughout Penang.
“Currently there are 13 hotspots where mat rempit gangs gather to race illegally and the police always conduct operations in these areas to stop these activities,” he also said.
He added that the police have collaborated with USM in conducting a study on how to combat the mat rempit issue at the grassroots and he believes the involvement of other agencies is also needed in efforts to eradicate the activity. — Bernama
