ONE of the most difficult tasks of being parents is perhaps to come to terms with their children’s delinquency or notoriety.
A case in point is the denial by families of three teenagers who perished while riding motorcycles that they were speeding or were involved in illegal racing during a 10.30pm incident last Friday.
This follows the hypothesis by Johor police chief Comm Datuk Kamarul Zaman Mamat that speeding cases had been recorded at the location of the accident where the trio had died.
After all, the Jalan Delima stretch in Taman Kota Masai, Pasir Gudang is straight and clear of any obstruction.
Seri Alam OCPD Supt Mohd Sohaimi Ishak earlier said initial investigations showed that the incident happened when the victims, including pillion riders, were allegedly competing among themselves.
The motorcycles are believed to have brushed against each other, hence resulting in the accident. Three victims were thrown to the left side of the road, and another to the right.
This abruptly brings to mind the accident whereby sales promoter/clerk Sam Ke Ting is left traumatised for the rest of her life not for her six-year jail conviction by the Johor Bahru High Court but for mowing down eight teenagers on “basikal lajak” (illegally modified bicycles) along Jalan Lingkaran Dalam, Johor Bahru at 3.20am on Feb 18, 2017.
If the three teenagers who were killed in the recent accident were not racing, one wonders why the parents allowed them to wander out of their home at that ungodly hour in the first place.
Fortunately, there was no Sam Ke Ting (or any other unfortunate car driver/s) at the scene of the motorbike accident which made the entire ordeal seem more “self-inflicted”.
This goes to prove the point that the accident involving Sam Ke Ting five years ago would not be the last.
Not only did the Pasir Gudang incident evoke the “basikal lajak” accident sorrow – it is very much a harbinger that more teenagers/youths are going to lose their lives if not limbs if the authorities and parents are unable to accept the truth no matter how much it hurts.
This observation by political scientist and professor at Sunway University (Jeffrey Sachs Centre on Sustainable Development) Prof Dr Wong Chin Huat as posted on his Facebook on April 17 is most sensible:
“Imagine two other possible scenarios of the Sam Ke Ting’s accident.
- She alone suffered injury while the kids escaped deaths. Would the children’s parents be charged?
- Both she and the children were injured. Would both she and the children’s parents be charged?
These questions need to be asked because we must ascertain that her re-prosecution is not driven by the idea that since eight lives were lost, she must be punished no matter what. Sort of getting even.
The opposite is true when many now just want the parents to be charged which is politically incorrect for the Government (who controls the Attorney-General’s Chambers) since many would think the parents have suffered enough with the loss of their children.
If the parents should be let off because they suffered enough, then Sam should not be punished when the prosecution cannot actively show that she had driven recklessly (drunk, speeding or not having her belt on) just because that she was not injured.
If we want to apply leniency, then it should be balanced.
By the way, I disagree with the opinion that the parents are culprit. The B40 parents might have too little time and resources to better nurture their children. This is not at all to excuse all their responsibility, but to say the Government does too little to empower B40 families is also politically responsible.
And some top politicians who should be politically responsible evade their political responsibility by fanning up the ethnic sentiment that it is not fair for Sam to escape unscratched while eight kids died.
Failure to see how our Governments’ responsibility in helping the poor and blaming ONLY the poor parents is helping the irresponsible politicians to escape their responsibility and perpetuate the tragedies.
Yes, Sam may not be the last. It might happen to you. But to protect yourself, you have to be sophisticated to be empathetic to the poor and not play into some unscrupulous politicians’ hands.” – April 25, 2022
