rewarding the undeserving

KUANTAN - Satu pertandingan motor bergerak perlahan bakal diadakan di Pahang, sebagai satu usaha Kerajaan Negeri mendidik golongan mat rempit agar berhemah di jalan raya.

Menteri Besar, Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob berkata, pertandingan itu bakal diadakan setiap bulan atau dua bulan sekali dan akan menawarkan hadiah sebanyak RM10,000 kepada pemenang.

"Dalam seminggu dua lagi, saya dan Exco Belia dan Sukan, Datuk Wan Adnan Wan Mamat serta Exco Pelancongan, Datuk Shafik Fauzan Sharif akan bertemu kumpulan mat rempit di negeri ini.

"Sepatutnya 200 orang nak datang (jumpa) tetapi telah meningkat kepada 1,500 mat rempit yang akan datang. Saya akan berjumpa dengan dia orang dan saya mungkin buat satu pertandingan jalan (lumba) motor perlahan.

"Siapa perlahan dapat hadiah. Kita buat dua kilometer (perlumbaan). Hadiah untuk johan mungkin RM10,000," katanya ketika berucap pada majlis Sambutan Hari dan Minggu Belia peringkat negeri di sini hari ini.

- SINAR HARIAN

If I am Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob, I would consider donating the monthly prize money to:

(a) the tractor driver who need RM30,000 to pay for this wife's chemotherapy, hormone and radiation therapy expenses. She was diagnosed with breast cancer and spinal metastases and has four school-going children. He works seven days a week and overtime just to make ends meet. To make a donation, you can write out a cheque to Perak MCA stating the name of Kong Yook Fah at the back, and mail it to the Perak MCA headquarters at No. 90-92, Tingkat Satu, Jalan Sultan Idris Shah, 30000 Ipoh; or

(b) help out the family in Sungei Petani that has not got enough food on their table. The four siblings who ate soil to stave off hunger are now being warded at the intensive care unit of a local hospital; or

(c) the National Kidney Foundation (NKF), who provide subsidised dialysis treatment to people from the lower income group. The NKF is a non-profit organisation that's in desperate need of funds as they will face a shortfall of RM12 million this year. Read about their plight here.


RM10,000 for a slow motorbike race? Seriously? You really think that this will somehow magically turn them useless mat rempits into good sons overnight? If you want me to go slow for the race, I will go slow la. But on normal days when there's no slow-slow race, I can do the rempit-rempit wat... no sweat.

Obviously, not much brain power was employed in coming up with that usaha kerajaan negeri. If you really mean to do something about this, then be serious! I suggest hauling off a couple of them (sebagai sample bagi yang lain cukup la) to do some hard labour work, shave their heads botak and kalau masih tak sesal, rotan sampai panggil mak seratus kali. You telling me this is less effective and not cheaper?

Mat rempits do not desperately need our help. They are a golongan sampah masyarakat who doesn't have more productive things to do. Provide them with programs to channel all those misdirected energy into, but don't buy them with money. As if there's not enough incentives going around.

RM10,000 can go a long way in helping those who really deserve it, like the ones I've mentioned above. Ironically, all 3 articles appear in newspapers on the same day. Here you have the kerajaan negeri that doesn't know how to spend the extra cash it has, and then you have people who desperately need money to sustain life.

What gives?