Wednesday May 20, 2009
Cops: Send road thugs straight to jail
KUALA LUMPUR: The police are calling for mandatory jail for “road thugs” (samseng jalan) – motorcyclists who endanger the public by speeding or riding recklessly.
The proposed change has already been submitted to the Transport Ministry for review, said Federal traffic police chief Senior Asst Comm (II) Datuk Abd Aziz Yusof.
He added the harsher punishment was meant to strike fear into these “road thugs”.
Currently, the punishment for reckless driving is a jail term of not more than five years or a fine of between RM5,000 and RM10,000, or both, he said.
“However, most of them only have to pay a fine when convicted. I feel this is too light,” said SAC Abd Aziz during a meeting with reporters at Dataran Merdeka yesterday.
As for those below 18, police were also considering making changes to the Child Protection Act which would allow them to be sent to the Henry Gurney reform schools.
He added that last year, a similar proposal was made to amend Section 42 (A) of the same act in which repeat offenders would receive punishment of a minimum of 10 years’ jail, three strokes of the rotan, not less than RM10,000 fine, and not less than a five-year suspension of their driving licence.
“However, the current proposal is designed at prevention, as it includes first offenders,” SAC Abd Aziz said.
He was speaking to reporters about the ongoing nationwide Ops Sepadu, jointly conducted by the police and various other law enforcement agencies.
“From May 1 to May 17, we issued around 13,000 summonses for various offences,” he said, adding that about 4,300 were for motorcyclists riding without a licence.
SAC Abd Aziz said the operation had been very effective and would be continued.
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