Give me RM100,000 for the road

The Lord above made liquor for temptation

To see if man could turn away from sin.

The Lord above made liquor for temptation – but

With a little bit of luck,

With a little bit of luck,

When temptation comes you’ll give right in!

- Alan Jay Lerner: ‘With a Little Bit of Luck’ from “My Fair Lady’

Well, men have been giving in to temptation for centuries, probably ever since the beginning of our species, when a humanoid ancestor discovered the extra ‘sweet’ kick of fermented fruit.

And like much of what we have discovered of this world and what we have made of it, alcohol has been a double-edged sword, lubricating convivial occasions, and debilitating livers and lives, sparking senseless mayhem to self and others.

The federal government is mulling increasing the maximum fine for drunk driving from the current RM20,000 to RM100,000. This follows a recent spate of tragedies on the roads involving drunk drivers.

And this follows the usual government lock-step response to issues and tragedies, whether it be the collapse of a building or tour bus in a ravine – several agencies involved, a task-force formed, this is unacceptable, we will crack down hard, show we mean business.

But RM100,000 and jail-time? It’s understandable there will be a blood-lust when lives are lost because of an inebriated driver, but still, RM100,000…

If the proposal were to become law, the immediate consequence would a couple of show-case trials where a couple of scape-goats will feel the full weight of the public’s opprobrium for being deadly drunken sods.

A more lasting consequence may be… in the 80s, a fiery crash in Kuala Lumpur prompted a similar response from the authorities. The minimum fine for drink driving was increased from a few hundred to RM3,000. Let that be a lesson to those menaces on the road.

The lesson the menaces learned was that because of the heat on the subject and the RM3,000 fine, they could no longer just contribute RM30-50 to the police EPF (Extra Provident Fund), but had to stump out RM1,500 to drive on.

A blotto friend of mine drove on, past the police roadblock – the police kept his identity card while he went to round up funds to reclaim it. The police did a good job – sobered him quick. He was pissed in a different way, but sober.

About a month into the campaign, the news organisation I worked for got a copy of an internal Bukit Aman memo. The scheduling of drink driving operations was to be reduced from daily to once a week. Nightly unauthorised roadblocks, which had sprung up, were strictly forbidden.

Why? Because suddenly members of the police were happy to be on night shift. Because the memo suggested that policemen were earning a minimum of a couple of thousand a night, or more.

It’s down to the same thing: we have laws galore, but the enforcement…

A news report said 919 individuals were nabbed for drink-driving in Kuala Lumpur last year. And horrors, it is an increase from the 862 cases in 2018. A growing menace!

I would say, horrors, only 919 in a year? Heck, you should be able to exceed that number on a Saturday night in a couple of neighbourhoods in KL.

There is no final solution. There will always be men and women who have a need to lose themselves in an alcohol-fuelled blood-rush, who, like Coleridge’s Ancient Mariner, must unburden themselves of bad jokes, bad marriages and bad bosses to everybody in the bar.

You would need every publican in the country to be like the late Rennie Klassens on Jalan Gasing, Petaling Jaya. When the breath-analyser test came into force, Rennie had a machine installed in his pub.

Patrons, intending to leave, had to huff and puff. Failing the sobriety test meant being made to have a cup of coffee while a taxi was called. All protestations that the machine was wonky were ignored by Rennie.

The other possible conclusive solution is to have PAS rule the country – which, my God, please forbid!

Perhaps these punishments have not been publicised enough, because as of Feb 13, Kuala Lumpur Traffic and Investigation Department head ACP Zulkefly Yahya said a total of 158 individuals were arrested for driving under the influence (DUI) of alcohol in the capital city throughout January.

As reported in the news, a total of 919 individuals were nabbed for drink-driving last year. This is an increase from 862 in 2018.

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THOR KAH HOONG is a veteran journalist. - Mkini