M-BIKERS’ ANTICS SLAMMED

Malaysian riders block traffic in Narathiwat, southern Thailand, to let convoy pass

THE alleged overzealousness of Malaysian bikers on convoy to block traffic at a busy road junction in southern Thailand recently has sparked an uproar from the province’s social media users.

Many of the kingdom’s Netizens voiced their displeasure when a video clip of the incident was uploaded onto the Hatyai Fanpage Group Facebook account on Sept 27, several days after the incident.

Most of them wondered whether the action by foreign motorcyclists in deliberately blocking incoming vehicles in Thailand without any assistance from local authorities was legal, with many describing it as “taking the local law into their own hands”.

The 1.05-minute video showed several Malaysian motorcyclists, said to be marshals, and unaccompanied by local authorities, blocking other vehicles at the busy traffic junction to let the convoy of motorcycles pass through.

Netizens also lamented at the high speed the big and powerful motorcycles were ridden during the convoy.

The incident, which drew sharp rebukes from southern Thailand social media users, was believed to occur at the Lumphu Intersection in Muang District, Narathiwat province, southern Thailand at 10.32am (local time) on Sept 22.

The video clip has been viewed 646,000 times and drawn 1,300 comments, mostly negative, as well as 4,100 likes.

It had also attracted comments from Malaysian social media users, who mainly apologised for the action of their countrymen.

Facebook user Fairuz Abdul Latif posted: “To all Thailand citizens, thousand apologies for rude riders from Malaysia”.

Another reader, who identified himself as Wan Kel, said: “This is madness.

“We are sorry these Malaysians behaved like this in your lovely country.”

Meanwhile, a check with the Muang police station in Narathiwat yesterday showed the authority had not received any complaint or report regarding the said incident.

“So far, no one has filed any complaint about the incident,” said a police officer on duty, but added that they would gather more information about the incident.

The police officer, who declined to identify himself because he was not authorised to speak to the media, said it was surprising to watch the brazen attitude of foreign motorcyclists in the video clip.

“When I first saw the video clip, I was like, Oh! How could they do something like that or they think they could do anything in Thailand?” he said, adding that the police station had not been contacted by the group to seek assistance prior to the said incident.

Narathiwat, he said, was a popular destination for Malaysian big bike convoys as well as tourists and they had never faced any such problems in the past. Bernama