Illegal racing has long be known to be a never-ending problem in Malaysia and many lives have been lost as well as youths find themselves permanently disabled or killed while doing dangerous stunts on the road.
However, there is a handful of mat rempits (illegal racers) who have seen the error of their ways and are now working to prevent others from making the same mistakes.
Ex-M’sian mat rempit holds fishing competitions for youths
One such individual is 38-year-old Mohd Razif Aini, who was once a mat rempit but decided to turn over a new leaf and help other youths to do the same too.
Speaking to Harian Metro, Mohd Razif said he got involved in illegal racing during his teenage years after learning how to ride a motorcycle at the age of 10.
“In secondary school, I raced in the village with my friends. After I started working, I saved up by working in the fields to buy a motorcycle.
“At first, I used a regular motorcycle before switching to a Yamaha Y15 for racing. We (along with friends) usually raced around Tanjung Karang, Selangor. As most illegal races offered cash prizes, I participated in a lot of them and once won a total of RM60,000,” he revealed.
He also said that to ensure he won the race, he made a lot of modifications to the motorcycle, adding that it gave him bragging rights to show off the motorbike’s ‘prowess’ in illegal races.
However, that all changed when Mohd Razi got married and was compelled to quit illegal racing altogether at the advice of his wife along with the fact that he wasn’t getting any younger.
“At that point, I began to think about making fishing my new hobby to replace street racing, which led me to opening my very own fishing pond a year ago.
“I then came up with the idea of organising fishing competitions among ‘mat rempits’ as a way to help them be engaged in more beneficial activities,” he said, adding that he did so due to his past as a former mat rempit.
Mohd Razi said in order to pique interest, he placed his own Yamaha RXZ motorcycle as the grand prize and said many have turned up for the very first fishing competition as a result.
READ ALSO:
