What does it say about the state of the nation when a traffic accident morphs into a major incident, with some members of the public taking the law into their own hands by assaulting the alleged perpetrator?

What does it reveal about our society when onlookers did not stop the beating, but took out their phones to record the assault?

Returning to Malaysia after studying and working overseas, I was advised that if I were to be involved in a traffic accident in rural area, I was to drive to the nearest police station to lodge a report. On no account was I to stop at the accident scene.

This is contrary to what we had been taught at driving school which was to stop the car, turn off the engine, and switch on the hazard lights.

If anyone had been hurt, or the road was blocked, the police and ambulance should be summoned.

We should also exchange insurance details with the driver of the other vehicle, and obtain the contact details of any witnesses.

It would have also been drummed into us that it was against the law to drive away after an accident.

Around the late 1980s, friends warned that some people driving through outlying villages had been assaulted.

As they drove through the countryside, many had accidentally hit livestock such as chickens which had strayed onto the road.

Drivers who stopped to check their cars, had been assaulted and forced to pay a hefty compensation.

Bigger animals like cows caused serious damage and possibly death.

It was not limited to livestock as the villagers, comprising both adults and children, had little respect for the highway code and often did things that in normal circumstances would have been construed as breaking the law.

These included driving on the wrong side of the road, children driving their parents’ vehicles, or riding motorbikes or bicycles without lights at night.

Last week, Selangor police chief Hussein Omar Khan said a 42-year-old man had died after a traffic accident on February 20.

After hitting two cars, he allegedly sped away but men in cars and motorbikes pursued him.

When the driver crashed into a fence in a residential area, his pursuers then dragged him out of the driver’s seat, and bound his hands and feet.

He was then beaten up while others kicked him like a football.

They left just before the police and ambulance arrived, but by then the victim had died.

Subsequent tests revealed that the victim had tested positive for ganja and methamphetamines. He had ten previous drug-related offenses.

Hussein said an autopsy would be conducted to ascertain the cause of death.

The victim might have been a drug addict and responsible for a crash involving two cars, but he did not deserve to be tied up and beaten to death!

The brutality, the lynching and the mob mentality evident in Semenyih have revealed our darker side.

With Malaysia’s endemic corruption, partial pardons and reduced sentences, can it be that people no longer trust our policemen and law enforcement?

Have we regressed as a nation that members of the public will act as judges, jurors and executioners? Are we so lawless that vigilante groups will summarily dispense justice as they see fit?

What happened to our morals and values? Can we no longer distinguish between right and wrong?

We are not a lawless society and our policemen exist to protect our citizens and maintain law and order.

So, how did we get to this stage?

The police have arrested five men aged between 22 and 52 in Semenyih and Berenang.

The victim had allegedly caused a crash, and had fled the scene because he feared for his safety and wanted to find a police station to lodge his report.

Did the victim panic and drive into the fence? His pursuers should have just tied him up and hand him to the police when they caught up with him at the fence. Instead they took the law into their own hands.

Thirty years ago, when I was driving along a country road outside Batu Gajah, a motorcyclist suddenly darted across my path without signaling.

With  insufficient time to brake, the motorcyclist was hit. I got out to check on her, when a group of men appeared from nowhere and surrounded my car. A few were armed with parangs. They looked menacing.

The woman was not wearing a helmet, nor did she have a valid driving license or motor insurance.

The situation was tense and was only defused by the two foreign tourists in my car, whom I had taken to visit Kellie’s Castle.

We lodged a report at the police station in Batu Gajah, only to find months later that no further action (NFA) would be taken. Why?

Despite the woman breaking the law several times over, she escaped punishment.

The experience had shaken me. Moreover, I had to pay for the damage she caused.

Lodging the police report took five hours. The NFA was puzzling.

I often wonder what would have happened if the tourists were not accompanying me then.

So, three decades later, it appears that the mob mentality has either resurfaced, or perhaps never really gone away.

With Malaysia’s endemic corruption, partial pardons and reduced sentences, can it be that people no longer trust our policemen and law enforcement?

This is unacceptable as law and order must prevail.

Sources:

1. New Straits Times: Video of man involved in alleged hit-and-run and being beaten goes viral
2. New Straits Times: Five men to be charged over death of motorist after assault in Semenyih
3. Malaysiakini: Cops probing death of driver found beaten, bound after road accident
4. Malaysiakini: Remand against 5 in fatal Semenyih beating extended to Feb 29
5. Malaysiakini: ‘My brother didn’t deserve to be beaten to death because of his criminal record’

(Mariam Mokhtar is a Freelance Writer.)