Temubual NST bersama Menteri Dalam Negeri New Sunday Times | June 22, 09 2:06pm

MAT REMPIT PROBLEM

Q1: The Mat Rempit menace scares the public so much, even a researcher said that the police were afraid of their sheer numbers. How do you plan to tackle the problem?

Hishammuddin: No way the police are afraid of the Mat Rempit. From what I have seen and know, fear is the least of the police’s worry. It’s the question of what to do with them, it’s not just about nabbing then. They’re kids.

Secondly, we know that part of the problem is drug related. The other problem is that we can never offer these Mat Rempit a better price than what they are getting right now by winning races.

So I’ve looked at some basic questions. There are more motorcycles in Vietnam than in Malaysia, so how come they don’t have Mat Rempit there? They resolved it by getting the community involved.

Instead of locking them up, they brought their Mat Rempit to the community and that embarrassed their families. Now it may not be the solution here, but I’m looking at it in different perspectives.

At the moment, however, we will just have to go down hard on them. There is no alternative. As far as the Mat Rempit, Ah Long and street crimes are concerned, there will be no tolerance. I’ll be going down to the ground.

I’m hoping to meet Ah Long victims and hear from them what they are facing. Is it corruption? Are the police in cahoots with them? Is it a question of related crimes, like organized crimes, prostitution rings and drugs?

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