1. It all started in September 2005 during one of the
weekly Friday night gatherings, a few of our
Msportbikers witnessed the death of a young
motorcyclist in trendy Bangsar.
Blinded with what's coming in front while hoisting
the infamous wheelie stunt down the Maarof
stretch, just off a downhill crest (what was he
thinking?), he then slammed directly onto a car
that was slowly reversing onto the main street.
What transpired immediately was a ruckus
brought on by the 'comrades' of the ill fated rider
upon the defenseless driver and it's passengers
from the car. It turned violent. A typical mob
mentality took over humanity. The chaos called
for a few of the msportbikers' courageous
attempts to persuade the angry 'mob' away from
the car. Bystanders were helpless, traffic stalled
and at 12am it wasn't a sight one would imagined
Bangsar to be.
However,itwaslaterlearntthatthedeceasedwas
only 16 years old. He had been hurriedly
transported onto a taxi flagged down during the
confusion even before the emergency services
arrivedabouthalfhourlaterfromthecountofthe
first smashed window. Extent of bodily injury was
not checked, and based on the impact witnessed
by most present, he would have had suffered
severe head injury and followed by an immense
loss of blood.
All it took was a reversing vehicle and an
unsuspecting, rather irresponsible biker to
concoct a nasty accident turned violence which
was all totally unnecessary in the eyes of those
we were there who witnessed that night.
With the incident heavily discussed on the forum,
it became obvious that something had to be done
to curb unnecessary victimization and loss of
lives on the streets.
Suggestions and ideas came pouring in. It was
apparent that the forumers, mainly bikers from
larger capacity bikes (them being car drivers as
well) felt a sense of responsibility towards
motoristsandfellowbikers,especiallywhensome
are of same age as their kids and most
importantly it was an appropriate step to find
alternativestoridtheseactivitiesoffpublicroads.
"The deceased probably
had immense skills
controlling his bike
while stunting. He
probably had no clue
that, what he couldn't
control was the
environment. - To the
many witnesses and
motorist present that
night, few would hold
much sympathy for the
offending biker for the
way he rode. While for
some, it stirred many
unanswered questions
on road rage. And
despite all that, one
point was clear, the boy
had talent."
AArrmmaanndd AAllii ccoommmmeenntteedd ; To see how we can
penetrate the minds of these youngsters, we had
to first understand them. Meeting after meetings
were carried out with self-declared Rempit heads,
the casual stunters and even the pillions. We
managed to consolidate many views and things
we, msportbike, can do to help them realize that
what they are doing is not a negative or bad thing
if done within the confines of a controlled
environment.
We had the idea of putting up a show, with events
that were suggested by the Rempits themselves.
To provide them with a safe and controlled
environment. The venue? Our very own world
class facility, the Sepang International Circuit
(SIC).
SIC was very supportive of the idea and allowed
us free usage of the front straight after a major
event. Naza and Pan Global coincidently had their
endurance race late last year and graced us with
a time slot to fit in our inaugural, Mat Rempit
Scooter Show. We were quite anxious and
nervous as none of us have handled such an
eventbefore.Allthemanpowerwehadcamefrom
volunteers of the forum. From handing out flyers
late nights to being officials during event, they
were all unpaid.
We took the plunge and went for it. The inaugural
event saw over 100 registered rempits. It was
mind blowing to see such interest and response.
They registered for 6 events on the offerings.
Namely, slow wheelie competition, slalom
wheelie, stoppie and sprint. The wheelie classes
were divided between the underbones and open
categories.
Everything went smoothly without any untoward
incident. We were however prepared for it as we
had ambulance on standby and volunteer doctors
ready to assist. Participants were given t-shirts
upon registering. Winners went home with
trophies and certificates endorsed by msportbike
and SIC. No registration fee was imposed. Even
spectators were given free admission to the
grandstand area.
Just before the start of the slalom wheelie, we
were approached by the competitors. They
were not happy with the setup of the traffic cones
saying it was too close apart and it would make it
less interesting for the crowd to see too many
"failures" We explained to them that this is an
event for them and we will do everything to make
it as interesting for them as it would for the
spectators. The setup was changed. They couldn't
believe it at first but realized that were doing this
event for them and the challenges were
"designed" by them.
We rated the inaugural event as a success, not
only because of the overwhelming registered
entrants, but the fact that each and every one of
those riders that turned up was possibly a life
saved, on that day at least. So having over a 100
when were happy had only 30 turned up, was
simply mind-blowing. The spectators that had
turned up in that single event was probably more
than that a local race series held at the same
venue throughout the whole season!
The cost of the inaugural event came up to circa
RM2,000.00. These funds were donated
by individuals. Most volunteers forked out their
own money to support the event. Ambulance
service, trophies, certificates and consumables
were all funded by donations.
These kind hearted donors and volunteers really
deserve a pat on their back. Kudos
msportbikers!
Aftertheevent,someofthevolunteersdecidedto
follow the rempits into town and
what happened next really touched our hearts.
The winners were parading their trophies
along Dataran Merdeka. When they stopped, the
other rempits gathered around and the
proudest memorabilia they had gotten from the
event was something that the regular
track day goers took for granted - the wrist tags.
These tags were used by us to identify bikes that
had been scrutineered before the event as means
of a safety inspection. It was a form of
identification for the officials but to them, it was a
precious momento.
In fact one of them told us that the trophies can't
be carried around all the time, nor the
certificates. But those wrist tags bearing the
Sepang wordings and logo which meant the world
to them were left on their bikes to show off to
their friends.
In our books, the success of the event was
something to be proud of. The participants took
thesaferwaytoshowcasetheirtalentratherthan
taking it to the streets and menacing the roads.
We had a couple more shows done at Sepang,
however after the first event, we realized that the
interest from the Mat Scooters were lacking due
to the fact that the scooter group had a similar
event of their own. Interestingly to note that
these scooter guys and the rempits are of totally
different, shall we say clan.
The scooter boys actually get offended when
referred to as a Rempits. They would say, "Saya
bukan Mat Rempit, saya Mat Scoot" (I am not a
Mat Rempit, I am a Mat Scoot". So we dropped the
Msportbike
Rempit Show
Text & Photos by Armand Ali
Re-written by Auds
MSPORTBIKE AREA

2. to be hampered by rain. Some loaded the bikes in
their vans and lorries. It was touching to see even
parents traveling with them in the vans. Some
parents actually came to see for themselves that
the event would really take place and that their
kids were not just using an excuse to go out
racing in the streets late in the nights. A father
came up to me explaining that he thought his son
was lying as he had never heard of such events
being officially organized.
Needless to say the volunteer's phone number
listed in the flyers had the same enquiries from
otherparents. Itreallywasgreatfuntoseethese
boys showcase their talents in a safe, well
controlled environment. They obviously had fun
too and kept asking, when the next event would
be held.
It was a great effort from all volunteers that had
made it possible. We even had volunteers from
another biking club, The RD Club giving us a hand
during our last event. Goes to show that we,
bikers, do care for one another. A community,
rather than a clan.
These events brought bikers together, for the
sake of other bikers. We would never be able to
eradicate the Rempitism on the streets. Illegal
races would still be held. Stunters would still
"perform" on the streets. At least, we as bikers
are trying to do our part to save these young
talents. The law enforcement crackdown will
MSPORTBIKE AREA
deter them and reduce the number of such illegal
activities. It would only work with constant
enforcement and policing. Having their license
revoked or suspended will not stop them from
going out on the streets if checks are not done
persistently. They would surely be brave enough
to ride around knowing there's a lack of
enforcement.Inshort,weALLneedtodoourpart.
Let us not call all bikers who go into town late
nights for a ride, Rempits. Let us not call all bikers
who go in-between cars in traffic, Rempits. Let us
not portray them in any manner negatively in the
media. It only fuels them.
These young riders crave for attention and will be
happy and thrilled at any attention given to them.
These youngsters would not be "performing"
their stunts on empty roads with no spectators.
Theycraveforacknowledgment.Itisaphasethat
will pass. Hopefully while phase is in motion, we
would be able to give them more avenues to
showcase their talents safely and more
frequently.
scoter event as they were not interested in
participating and renamed the event "Msportbike
Rempit Show", better known on the forum as
MRS.
In the latest event, we experienced some
difficulties with funding and we found it even
more challenging as the weather wasn't on our
side. The clouds opened up and we ended
starting the event with a wet front straight. It is
still possible and safe to run the wheelie
challenges.
However, due to the danger the wet surface
imposed it was just impossible to allow the sprint
event to take place. During registration, we had
informed them that the event for sprint category
would be cancelled had it rain. It did and they still
waited till the end of the show hoping to get the
circuit dry enough. It never came.
When all the other events were finished, a mob of
the sprint event contenders gathered and voiced
their disappointment. Typical of a mob mentality,
anger ensued. They were becoming more
aggressive to the point that SIC's security guards
had to stand between the volunteers, including
myself and the now ticking time bomb of the
frustrated group. Luckily, the guards were able to
disperse the crowd.
It was understandable that they were frustrated;
imagine having travel all the way to Sepang, only