YOURSAY | We're all victims in ‘basikal lajak’ tragedy

 

YOURSAY | ‘There may be no villains in this tragedy, but there are victims.’

COMMENT | Searching for a villain in a story of victims

Easy blaming biking teens' parents, consider society's failure - Siti Kasim

Vent: Malaysiakini’s Aidila Razak writes with much persuasion, but I’m afraid that I am not persuaded. There may be no villains here in this tragedy, but there are victims - driver Sam Ke Ting and the eight dead teens.

Attempts to render the parents of the children as victims of socio-economic conditions are a cop-out.

Socially-deprived kids and privileged ones are equally victims of poor parenthood - one the result of harsh economic realities and the other because of the parental neglect of replacing time with material compensation.

I, for one, am not looking for a villain. Only justice for both. Sam will have her day in court again to dispel all doubts of culpability and the parents will have to face up to their omission of parental control or neglect if any.

One question will and should remain central to the case - why were the children racing with their bicycles in the middle of the night with all the attendant setbacks of poor lighting and visibility to other bona fide users of the road like Sam who was returning home from work?

What was their excuse? And just as crucial, what is the parents’ defence?

So, there can be no villains unless it is being suggested that the parents killed their own kids through their neglect. I rest my case.

GoldenCarp2584: Yes, they are all victims, but are you saying that parents aren’t responsible for their children? But instead, society is?

Some parts, yes, but rather than society, I would say it’s the government.

And the parents should be penalised because it’s their offspring endangering other road users out there. There should be a precedent to say “as parents, take care of your kids or ask social services for help”.

Sorry, but I simply cannot agree that the parents are purely victims. They are at the least enablers, in my opinion. If they had been responsible parents, not given any money to modify the bikes, or thrown away the modified bikes and locked the kids in their rooms, this wouldn’t have happened.

IndigoCrab8510: Is it okay for parents not to know where their child is at 3am if the kid is not at home asleep, or at least at home playing a video game or reading a book? Is it okay for parents not to know if their children engage in dangerous activities such as ‘basikal lajak’?

Parenting has its difficulties for sure but I think, objectively speaking, it is not okay for any of the above situations and a parent who says otherwise may be failing in his/her God-given responsibility as a parent.

Whether there should be criminal consequences is a different matter.

ScarletViper3390: This is a good article written by an empathic person. Point being, we should never look for someone to blame, but rather see how we can redeem the situation.

Sam is a victim, so are the children. The question is, are we going to learn from these tragedies or are we going to ignore the underlying social issues that created the problem?

Where Sam is concerned, the solution is simple. Let her rehabilitate her life. Her family has lost so much because of the court case. Her car was wrecked, her life scarred by the deaths of the youngsters. The shock she suffered that night is incalculable.

As for the teens, the immediate measure is to keep them off the streets after midnight. At least, it will keep them safe.

Casualuser: Aidila has good intentions of trying to share both perspectives, be it the driver or the parents.

However, to me, it’s incorrect to say neither is at fault. We should not lay blame on either party, but we still need to assign responsibility to identify what went wrong and how to fix the problem.

Was it the parents, who allowed their underaged kids to make their own decisions, including partaking in reckless and life-endangering stunts, who were responsible?

Was it the driver, who was driving within the speed limit but decided to use the left lane on a three-lane highway possibly due to "flying" cars and bikes in the fast lanes, who was responsible?

Was it the government that failed to provide proper education to our kids on why these activities are so dangerous to the point that it seemed to not be considered a misdemeanour anymore, that was responsible?

Was it our schools, that focused too much on books while not offering children a proper entertainment outlet for fun in a safe and nurturing environment, that was responsible?

It is our collective responsibility to share the blame so we can improve upon our shortcomings for a brighter future, not just shifting the blame to a single party and calling it a day.

JayWai: Aidila, what is shocking to me is one parent interviewed by Bernama actually said that she was relieved that justice was served after Sam was found guilty by the High Court.

Her warped sense of justice is what we need to be concerned about. That she doesn’t recognise that her son died doing something illegal while also endangering the lives of other road users, and her son’s actions have led to trauma and loss of precious years of Sam’s life.

It’s the 30 youths who were at the wrong place, wrong time, doing the wrong things. These youths cannot break the law and die as a result of it and then their parents expect someone else to be held responsible.

Yes, we all make youthful mistakes, but at times we need to bite the bullet and take the blame.

Apa Ini: Don’t cop out on this one, lawyer Siti Kasim. Are the parents not at fault?

All the parents of the eight teens who died - if not all 30 who were out riding their bikes that night - will forever feel guilty, whether or not the judge finds Sam the driver guilty.

Both the parents and the driver are victims, there are no “winners” in a tragedy like this. It was an accident. The next “Sam” could be you or me.

But it’s hard to think that the parents had no notion that their kids were doing this dangerous racing. Does a kid buy and modify a bike then sneak out of the house with dozens of others at 3am without raising any suspicion?

When they are 13, 14, 15 or 16, the parents are still the adults in charge and are ultimately responsible.

The parents of the dead children may find “relief” in Sam’s punishment but they will have to live with their share of guilt, always.

You can, of course, blame “society” or poor governance. But right now, just condemn the politicians using a tragedy to their political vote-generating advantage. And/or anyone making it a “race” thing.

IndigoCat9464: Siti Kasim was just giving her views from the legal aspect that it would be difficult to charge the parents for what happened that night.

She was trying to find what has gone wrong in our society that made our children indulge in such reckless behaviour. This is an open topic to be discussed.

If you ask me, yes, it’s a societal problem and it’s not the driver’s mistake.

All these are happening because some of our so-called political leaders have for decades kept busy accumulating wealth for themselves, their families, and cronies until they have neglected to develop the rakyat to be responsible citizens.

Anticonmen: The education system has failed in not inculcating discipline in these kids. The government has failed in not building sufficient bicycle parks for these kids to race and do stunts in.

Parents have failed in not having control over their children. The police have failed in not sufficiently patrolling the streets and apprehending such offenders.

The justice system has failed in not seeing the logic of what these kid cyclists were doing in the middle of the road at 3am on a dark and lonely road.

It’s a reflection of the failure of Malaysian leadership. - Mkini