Sultan’s brush with Mat Rempit
27 Oct 2006
M. Hamzah Jamaludin
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KUALA LIPIS: The Mat Rempit menace has angered even the Pahang Ruler. Sultan Ahmad Shah recounted how two illegal racers had forced his car off the road near his palace in Pekan on Tuesday night.
"It was really a close shave as the motorcyclists had switched off their lights and were speeding. I had to drive my vehicle onto the road shoulder to avoid them."
Sultan Ahmad Shah said he was driving a four-wheel-drive vehicle from the Royal Mausoleum towards his palace when the incident occurred at 10pm.
He said Mat Rempit were not only endangering their lives but that of others as well.
"I hope the authorities will do something to stop the menace," he said after visiting several dangerous spots along the Kuala Lipis- Merapoh road yesterday.
Sultan Ahmad Shah also advised the illegal racers to mend their ways, and use their leisure hours for more fruitful activities.
"They should remember that they will be caught one day," he said quoting a Malay proverb, Jerat takkan lupakan pelanduk (A trap usually snares the deer).
The Mat Rempit problem has become worse recently when a group of them stoned the Kubang Semang police station in Penang after two of them were arrested. On Oct 9, a three-year-old boy died after he was knocked down by a Mat Rempit. A 17-year-old youth was detained.
The Sultan also met and offered his condolences to Abdullah Sani Abdul Rahman whose son Mohd Farid, a 27-year-old corporal with the Royal Malaysian Air Force, was killed in a collision.
Mohd Farid, who is based in Labuan, was driving with his two brothers and cousin when his car was involved in an accident with a bus at 1.10am yesterday on the Kuala Lipis-Merapoh road.
His brothers, Mohd Fazrul, 25 and Mohd Faizal, 20, and cousin Mohd Rahim Mat Rabin, 25, were injured. The bus driver and 36 passengers were unhurt.
i said: wait when the Umno Putera is rammed by the rempit, see what is he going to say