‘I was attacked by Mat Rempit’ By : LYDIA GOMEZ

Lydia Gomez removing shards of glass from her car.

New Straits Times reporter LYDIA GOMEZ had a harrowing time in the early hours of Saturday when she stopped at a traffic light and was set upon by a group of Mat Rempit

I NEVER thought it could happen to me, despite having written numerous stories on Mat Rempit rampage.

The many police patrol cars and roadblocks in the Bangsar area, especially on weekends, made me think I was safe.

Friday night was meant to be a prelude to my birthday on Wednesday. I spent it with friends from Penang.

After the party, I headed home from Bangsar to Bukit Jelutong, Shah Alam. It was 1am and I anticipated police checks along Jalan Maarof, but there were no roadblocks or patrol cars in sight.
After dropping off a friend, I reached the T-junction of Lorong Maarof and Jalan Maarof, just before the Bang- sar Shopping Centre. I stopped as the lights were red.

My Perodua Kancil was the only car there. That’s when at least 15 people on motorbikes rode past me. Some were performing "wheelies" and pull- ing other Mat Rempit stunts.

Some were shirtless, some wearing full-face helmets and some were shouting and screaming at their own stunts.

I thought I was safe, as I was minding my own business, waiting for the light to turn green.

Seconds later, I felt my car shake and I saw one of them, wearing a white-collared T-shirt, blue jeans and visor, banging on my car door.

He tried to open it but failed as I had locked the doors. I was stunned but decided to wait for the light to change. Suddenly a hard object hit my passenger window.

There was a crack. Something hard crashed into the window again, shattering it.

I was paralysed with fear. It all happened within seconds. Then I noticed one of them drawing out a dagger about five inches long from the pocket of his denims.

This was when I knew they were after my handbag, which was on the passenger seat. The traffic light was red, but I stepped on the accelerator.

One of the Mat Rempit cha- sed me. I sped off, beating the lights as I feared for my life.

I was not taking any chances. At the same time, I remembered the victims who had been killed in accidents as they sped away from assailants.

Fortunately, the motorcyclist gave up. I pulled up before the Damansara toll booth. My hands were shaking and I was in a state of panic. I called my friends but no one picked up the phone.

I drove home, snuggled into bed and hoped that when I woke up the next morning my car window would be intact and it would only be a story I had written.

But it was not to be, I picked up the broken pieces of glass from the car and then mustered enough courage to step out of my house to make a police report.

The police top brass say all the time that you could report an incident at any police station. Well, they have yet to inform the Bukit Jelutong police station about this.

The policemen shooed me to the Brickfields police headquarters "as the incident happened in their jurisdiction".

Despite the trauma, I drove to Brickfields and lodged a report at 11pm. The investigating officer told me that hours after what happened to me, a girl was mugged outside her house in the area.

Fortunately, I was not injured and did not suffer a major loss. But I realise how vulnerable we are to the Mat Rempit menace.

Mat Rempit: We won’t stop

KUALA LUMPUR: Mat Rempit are adamant that illegal racing is here to stay if there is no effort to legitimise the “sport.”
This is a direct rebuff to friendly overtures from politicians to bring them back to the fold.
The illegal racers say that if the authorities really want to take them off the streets, all they have to do is build decent and affordable race tracks for them to do their “thing.”
“They have been promising these things for a long time, but nothing much has been done so far,” said Fairuz, 24, a mechanic by day and racer by night.
The existing racetracks are inaccessible to the Mat Rempit because “we cannot afford the charges,” he said.
“As for the organised races, the competition is too tough for us,” said a fellow enthusiast named Zaki.
Fairuz said the Sepang track was too far away from the city to be an attractive venue for the Mat Rempit – most of whom were low-income earners.
“Why are there so many golf courses in the city and so few tracks? It looks like nobody bothers about us because we have no money,” he lamented.
Zaki, 25, added that Mat Rempit were not society’s trash as they were often made out to be.
“There are among us graduates from foreign universities as well as professionals, like architects and engineers,” said Zaki who himself is a professional in the IT industry.
He however conceded that the majority were despatch riders and mechanics.
Even then, all Mat Rempit should not be viewed with disdain just because of a few bad apples, he said.
“All this negativity about us stems from the activities of a small number who were reported beating up people and caught for vandalism,” said Zaki.
Fairuz concurred that Mat Rempit were not gangsters, just young men who thrived on the adrenalin rush from racing.
“Like other sports, we can get emotional in a race. Sometimes fights break out. Then again, it is just among ourselves,” he said.
Another racer named Kechik said Putera Umno’s plan to convert Mat Rempit into Mat Cemerlang would not work.
“Mat Rempit will gamely take part in government-organised roadshows and convoys. But after that, it’s back to their cliques and street racing,” said the 23-year-old university student.
Zaki said he was suspicious of the motives behind Mat Cemerlang.
“Looks like someone’s trying to get political mileage out of ‘taming’ us,” he said.

5,000 polis dikerah perangi mat rempit, Oleh Mohd Azis Ngah

KUALA LUMPUR: Polis Trafik mengarahkan 5,000 pegawai dan anggota menjalankan operasi besar-besaran menangani kegiatan lumba haram atau mat rempit bagi memastikan mereka tidak menggugat ketenteraman awam menjelang Tahun Melawat Malaysia 2007 (TMM’07).

Operasi besar-besaran secara bersepadu itu turut membabitkan bantuan helikopter Unit Udara Polis Diraja Malaysia (PDRM) dan Jabatan Pengangkutan Jalan (JPJ) di seluruh negara sehingga awal tahun depan.

Berikutan itu, semua Ketua Polis Negeri dan Daerah sudah diarah meningkatkan operasi di kawasan masing-masing bermula awal bulan lalu sehingga tahun depan bagi memastikan mat rempit tidak bermaharajalela.

Ketua Trafik Pasukan Bukit Aman, Senior Asisten Komisioner II Nooryah Mohamed Anvar, berkata walaupun polis sudah banyak mengeluarkan sama dan tangkapan pada setiap operasi biasa, pihaknya percaya masih ramai mat rempit ‘berleluasa’.

“Kita perangi mereka habis-habisan. Jangan ingat kita mengalah dengan mat rempit. Tahun depan, kita ada program besar dan beribu-ribu pelancong akan datang ke sini.

“Polis tidak mahu kegiatan mereka (mat rempit) mengganggu ketenteraman awam, apatah lagi jika membabitkan pelancong asing kerana ia akan memberi imej buruk kepada negara,” katanya di sini semalam.

Dianggarkan 15 juta penunggang motosikal di seluruh negara dan sebahagian kecil daripadanya terbabit dengan lumba haram tetapi memberi kesan dan imej besar kepada penunggang motosikal.

Berdasarkan rekod mat rempit yang berdaftar dengan pergerakan Putera Umno, ada 28 kumpulan bermotosikal membabitkan kira-kira 80,000 penunggang.

Nooryah berkata, dalam tempoh enam minggu sejak 3 November lalu, ada kira-kira 4,000 kesalahan dikenal pasti, termasuk 2,778 saman pelbagai kesalahan dan 116 tangkapan dilakukan di sekitar Lembah Klang.

Katanya, secara purata, jumlah itu hanya membabitkan nisbah 1:5 daripada jumlah kesalahan sebenar yang dilakukan penunggang motosikal.

“Sepanjang Ops Lumba Haram dalam tempoh itu, kita menahan 62 penunggang dan pembonceng motosikal kerana kesalahan dadah manakala 28 lagi ditahan mengikut Seksyen 42(1) Akta Pengangkutan Jalan 1987,” katanya.

Dalam tempoh sama sehingga 17 Disember lalu, 26 lagi tangkapan dibuat atas pelbagai kesalahan termasuk memiliki senjata tajam.

Sementara itu dalam operasi terbaru mencegah kegiatan lumba haram di ibu negara awal pagi semalam, Polis Trafik Kuala Lumpur menahan lima mat rempit dan tujuh pemandu kereta kerana berlumba secara haram di ibu negara.

Operasi bermula sehingga 4 pagi itu dijalankan di sekitar Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman, Raja Laut dan Bulatan Pahang dan diketuai Timbalan Ketua Trafik Bandar raya, Deputi Superintendan Safien Mamat.

Safien berkata, dalam operasi selama empat jam itu, semua 12 yang ditahan berusia 16 hingga 25 tahun turut menjalani ujian air kencing tetapi disahkan negatif.

Sepanjang tahun ini, polis sudah menahan kira-kira 300 mat rempit di ibu negara.