Malaysia’s ‘Hell Riders’ scoff at law — and life

KUALA LUMPUR: Dozens of young Malaysian men hurtle through late-night city traffic on small motorcycles in a race that could easily end in death.

 

It’s a typical Saturday night in cities and towns across the country as thousands of bikers, calling themselves Mat Rempit (Hell Riders) take to the streets at high speeds — up to 160km/h while performing hair-raising stunts.

 

A split-second misjudgement can be fatal while weaving through cars and trucks at such speeds but these youths run this risk every weekend in the hope of winning money or a girl for the night but, above all, the respect of their peers

 

Mat Rempit is a fraternity of jobless and poorly-paid men for whom cheating death is a path to glory, a way of earning respect.

 

“They are in their own world,” said Abdul Azeez Rahim, a leader of the youth wing of Malaysia’s main ruling party, which has tried to engage Mat Rempit with an outreach programme.

 

Mat Rempit, in their trademark tight blue jeans, do more than race. They also risk death or serious injury with stunts like the reverse wheelie — riding downhill on only the front wheel — and the “superman” which involves hurtling along while lying flat on the bike.

 

“It is exhilarating to race down a road. All I need is just a few ringgit for fuel and I can have the time of my life,” courier Amir Fairuz said as he prepared for an illegal street race

 

Mat Rempit races can also turn violent. Recently, a 21-year-old man was killed after two groups of Mat Rempit clashed over a minor accident during an illegal race in Kuala Lumpur.

 

Last year bikers clubbed a car driver to death.

 

In October, a group went on the rampage in the trendy Kuala Lumpur suburb of Bangsar, smashing car windscreens after a resident yelled at them for making noise early in the morning.

 

“Mat Rempit, the 21st-century challenge for our sociologists, politicians and law enforcers, are now public enemy No.1,” the pro-government New Straits Times daily declared recently.

 

Rozmi Ismail, psychology lecturer at Malaysia’s Universiti Kebangsaan, met some 100 Mat Rempit for a study into the subject. He attributes their behaviour to a “show-off” culture.

 

“Some of the Mat Rempit are school drop-outs. They are bored and they need to find cheap thrills,” he said. “With just 10 ringgit for petrol, they can race until dawn.”

 

There are an estimated 200,000 Mat Rempit, some as young as 16. Most are factory workers, couriers and office assistants, many earning $330 (about R2400) a month or less.

 

They ride small Yamahas or Hondas, often with girlfriends on pillion, and race under their respective “clubs” whose names include “Kamikaze” and “Apache”.

 

The phenomenon has dominated TV talk shows and even spawned a local box-office success, with a movie produced by David Teo who used a former Mat Rempit as the lead actor.

 

“The message is that if you are a Rempit, you can die anytime,” Teo, who is producing a sequel next year, said.

 

With Malaysia’s hell riders now on the big screen, police are frustrated at what they see as the glorification of Mat Rempit.

 

“To me, these Mat Rempit are an undisciplined bunch of youths who do not hesitate to run into officers at roadblocks to escape punishment, creating a lawless situation,” Malaysia’s police chief, Musa Hassan, said.

 

But police face an uphill task to tame the bikers. One former “hell rider”, asked by police to talk about the perils of Mat Rempit culture at a recent youth forum, ended up extolling the thrills of street racing, to the obvious delight of his audience and the dismay of the forum’s organisers.

 

The authorities, declaring an all-out war against the menace, plan to tighten laws to enable the police to seize the machines.

 

But UMNO’s Abdul Azeez says new laws are not the answer. The party has instead called on the sports ministry to provide race tracks so that Mat Rempit can at least move off the streets.