IF the mere act of flying on airliners had caused the death of hundreds in air tragedies, then why don’t we all stop travelling by air?
Similarly, if the act of riding “modified bicycles” had caused the death of eight teenagers in an accident in Johor Baru at 3am yesterday, are we saying children should not be riding such bicycles?
Johor Baru Selatan district police chief Assistant Commissioner Sulaiman Salleh seems to be saying this, adding that 17 such bicycles had been seized to curb the activity.
It is as if to accept the lack of societal efforts to guide these children down the proper path, which, in the case of Terengganu, has resulted in immense benefits to the country with virtually all national and professional cyclists from that state coming from such a background.
Basikal nyamuk (mosquito bikes) needs to be understood. Branding them as “modified bicycles” and confiscating them will only lead to more tragedies. What we need to realise is how deeply-rooted this sub-culture is.
It is a passion that children across the nation, particularly those from low-income families, immerse themselves in, driven by dreams of bringing glory to the country.
These little “engineers” have long before yesterday morning’s tragedy, picked up scrap mono-tube frames, 20-inch wheeled bicycles, which are usually the cheapest available, and turned them into racing machines.
For a young boy from a low-income family, that is his heart and soul, his pride put into a two-wheeled vehicle he most likely created himself.
That is a passion shared not by few but thousands of children across the country.
However, what the adults do with all that potential right before their eyes, apart from those in Terengganu, has long left much to be desired.
Just like the troops of mosquito bike gangs identified through the uniformed colours of their bikes in Terengganu over a decade ago, the teenagers involved in the Johor Baru accident were most likely out for an inter-district or inter-village racing fest.
But again, the adults in Johor saw it merely as that, a nuisance even.
It took a series of criticisms from the New Sunday Times and some eye-opening discoveries that Terengganu woke up to the vast potential in the mosquito bike sub-culture a decade ago, much to their benefit as the status quo of Malaysian cycling now displays.
Just like those groups of teenagers in Johor Baru on their mosquito bikes, Terengganu had long been swamped with such teenage bicycle gangs, wreaking havoc on the streets with their mere numbers, and it was something the adults in the state took a more open-minded approach to.
Here were gangs of children who rode their bespoke bicycles across the state, like the “Sek Hijau” (Green Gang) from Kuala Terengganu, who rode 70km to Dungun and back to take on “Sek Oren” and vice versa. Here was clear potential right before everyone’s eyes.
The Terengganu Sports council (MSNT) and Terengganu Cycling Association (TCA) began to round up the mosquito bike gangs, but not to reprimand them.
They were instead given guidance and know-how. They were, most importantly, taught discipline.
Then they began organising mosquito bike races in the state, both of sub-categories in mass-participation events and as races specifically for mosquito bikes.
So accepted were the mosquito bikers that it morphed into a discipline, an entry level of cycling where talents are identified until today and well established for the future.
And the talents came aplenty, seeing the demographics of national teams virtually dominated by cyclists from Terengganu for the past decade.
That took the children off the streets and into regimented focus on becoming cyclists just like Azizulhasni Awang, Anuar Manan, the Saleh brothers Zamri and Harrif, Saiful Anuar Abdul Aziz and the once “kingpin” of illegal mosquito bike racing in Kuala Terengganu turned professional cyclist — Nor Umardi Rosdi.
Yes, they still roam the streets of Terengganu, but respectably and likely well aware of the risks of mosquito bikes’ purportedly dark past, due to the efforts by adults with an open mind.
Similarly, this should be how we look at the incident in Johor Baru.
A hard-handed approach by confiscating a young boy’s pride and joy will only breed rebellion.
Of course, 3am is not an hour fit for teenagers to fulfill their dreams of becoming national cyclists.
But nobody can say that there were sufficient programmes and awareness in those young adventurous minds, which would have made them decide otherwise because in Johor, there simply wasn’t.
And such programmes will never be in place, if adults continue to go by the principle of teaching children a lesson, merely by taking away their toys.