Disclaimer: In Real Life is a platform for everyday people to share their experiences and voices. All articles are personal stories and do not necessarily echo In Real Life’s sentiments.
One of the biggest ongoing controversies in Malaysia is the case of Sam Ke Ting: a young woman who accidentally killed 8 teenagers who were cycling on their basikal lajak in Johor late at night.
Source: China Press
The instant it happened it was destined to be a huge controversy: the killing of 8 teens, a late night accident, a racial element…
Malaysians are an opinionated bunch so of course everyone has an opinion as to who is at fault here. But just maybe everyone involved is a victim.
Sam Ke Ting
The judge that sentenced her, Abu Bakar, said during the judgement that “she should have known that the street will not be brightly lit at 3.20AM. Every Malaysian knows that we have really sh*tty roads – it’s not uncommon at all to find yourself driving through pothole infected roads or dark roads with zero lighting. So now we know that it’s not only normalised for Malaysians to drive in dangerous situations but also that it’s our fault for not adapting to them adequately!
Malaysians such as Tony Eusoff have also pointed out that this could have happened to any one of us. Malaysia is a car-focused country – we have nothing but roads, highways, car park areas all to accommodate our reliance on cars. As such, what happened to Sam Ke Ting is truly a worst case scenario for the majority of us who drive: imagine turning a corner late at night after work, seeing children in front of you and having that sickening feeling that you’re going to get killed and/or you will become a murderer.
Something that was established very early on is that Sam Ke Ting, a clerk by trade, is not an “anak orang kenamaan”. She was earning RM2,000 a month (below the established poverty wage of RM2,200). Bail has been denied and her recent court case has sentenced her to 6 years of imprisonment as well as a fine of RM6,000 and a 3 year driving ban. She is currently appealing the verdict by the High Court – it convicted her of the crime that the Magistrate’s Court had acquitted her of twice.
The way the case has been settled places more responsibility on the driver – regardless of whether you have knowledge of the trend of basikal lajak in an area or not, or whether the streets are well lit, it seems like the driver could be held responsible for any serious accidents.
The 8 teenage victims
Ultimately, they may have paid the highest price for their childish foolishness: the loss of their lives. Many have found themselves asking “what are these kids doing outside of their homes at such a time?” But perhaps that’s not the right question – perhaps the pertinent question is “where else could these kids lepak at that time of the night?”
Source: Trip Advisor
Kids will be kids and teens in particular remain teens, let’s face it. In the midst of their brains developing, children and teenagers make dumb choices and mistakes. It is highly unfortunate that these kids were killed for theirs. But the larger issue remains: we really don’t have safe spaces for children to hang out at night without having to pay money.
Too many places in Malaysia are made up of facilities that accommodate our national mandate to own cars. In return, we have too few outlets for children and teenagers, many of whom may have a mischievous or rebellious streak.
Malaysia is sadly no longer child-friendly. I remember playing badminton outside with my neighbours’ fellow kids when I was a child. Nowadays circumstances have changed enough that children can no longer play outside unless they’re lucky enough to have a nearby taman that is well-maintained.
Left image: happygolflessons.com
Right image: valalisia.blogspot.com
That’s why the rich have their country clubs, after all.
The parents of the victims
They’ve received tons of hate from netizens with many blaming them for child neglect. But like everyone involved, they’re probably blamed quite unfairly too.
In an interview with Sabariah Yusof, mother of the 14-year-old victim Azhar Amir, she mentions that he is child 8 of 10. This is only a reflection of Malaysia’s refusal to have a comprehensive system of sex education. Providing children with sex education is seen as a religiously conservative affront here, but in reality it leads to healthier and more mature sexual decisions. With that lacking, it is easy to indoctrinate people with the idea that more children is better – which is obviously not true.
Source: Bernama
People blame the parents by saying that they should have prevented their children from being out so late at night and on such dangerous bicycles too. But if you experienced being a rebellious minded teenager, you know: nothing can prevent a teenager from doing things like sneaking out and having a joyride with friends.
It’s also clear that the parents, just like Sam Ke Ting herself, aren’t exactly financially prosperous. This situation can’t be profitable for either party.
In a way, the situations of each person involved ensured that they couldn’t win
Parents lost children, which is always tragic because children are supposed to outlive parents. Sam Ke Ting has spent years of her youth on this accident. The children died because they were being children.
There have been many questions asked about this incident, but what about “what flaws in our society have been exposed by what happened”?
Source: Malay Mail
The development of our country is being fuelled by industrialised urbanisation. We have few green community spaces; everything is made up of cars and roads and litter.
Our English inherited legal system is also clearly inadequate for modern Malaysian society but it’s become a burden we refuse to put down because it’s all we’ve known for the past few hundred years. But that can be another article.
It was only a matter of time till something like this happened
We need to take measures to mitigate the issues we have created with the way Malaysia developed. For the shorter term, it would be sensible to increase reliance on public transport to reduce the need for large numbers of vehicles on the road.
Longer term? We have to think about how we view justice, especially when it comes to our punitive laws.
For more stories like this, read: Hun Sen, Najib & Marcos: Southeast Asia’s Most Corrupt Political Leaders, The Worst Habit Malaysians Have: Littering, and It’s A Human Rights Issue, Not A Religious One – Here’s Why Malaysians Deserve Access To Safe Abortions.
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