Of politicians and ‘high speeds’

THE law, they say, is an ass.

But then it’s often lawmakers who make it seem that way.

The cost of living is spiralling out of control, the war in Ukraine and the resultant oil price hikes are not helping, climate change is turning out to be a major threat, jobs are scarce – well, at least well-paying ones – and the political situation is a mess.

Yet, many of our elected representatives have their minds elsewhere.

In the federal capital, the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (Miros) wants the speed limit to be set at 30kph. That sounds reasonable, until you realise that a regular cyclist on a flat terrain can hit speeds of 26kph.

Deputy Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Jalaluddin Alias loves the idea and feels “lowering” the speed limit would improve safety for other road users such as cyclists and pedestrians.

Personally, though, I have to wonder if they are really asking for traffic to be slowed down or sped up.

On most of Kuala Lumpur’s narrow roads, a crawl at 10kph is often the norm.

And it seems rather silly that motorists should be travelling just a wee bit faster than your average cyclist.

Call me cynical, but I believe this will lead to more offences being committed and more fines being collected than better road safety. After all, mat rempit have been running rampant around the city with little or no regard for the law for years.

Enforcement officers are just as likely to continue ignoring these motorcyclists and start going after motorists instead.

Miros might be better off suggesting bike lanes and pedestrian walkways and maybe even “no-car” streets. And promote electric vehicles for good measure.

Then there is my favourite politician – not necessarily in a good way – Kedah Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor.

The man, known for his many weird ideas, has come up with a new one – he wants to grow ketum in his state, on large tracts of land involving some 600,000 farmers, and export the leaves to Thailand, which legalised the plant last year.

A former mentri besar had actually cracked down on ketum cultivation and even seized the land, but Sanusi has different ideas.

The Federal Government, as expected, has shot down his plan, but he remains adamant.

Ketum, if correctly used, may actually be a good thing. But we all know about having too much of a good thing.

The leaves have been touted as a cure for many things, including asthma and as an energy-booster.

However, it’s also an “upper” – a drug that can help users stay awake for hours on end. Security guards, lorry drivers and fishermen going out to sea are known to use it.

I have met some who used ketum; it starts out as a health drink but soon turns addictive. And then trouble begins.

One chap who went on a fishing trip had a bit too much and ended up throwing up everywhere. Then he decided to throw himself into a fire. Maybe he just felt cold.

Thank God for friends who could hold him back.

The mentri besar is very wrong if he thinks it will only be for export – there is no such thing as export-only in Malaysia. The ketum is almost certain to find its way into the local market.

Just look at how beer meant for export is easily available.

And should we be exporting drugs just because others have legalised it? Where does it stop?

There are countries that have legalised ganja. And Thailand also legalised medical marijuana in 2019.

Should we think of growing ganja for export then? It sure is big business, bigger than ketum.

But coming from Sanusi, it’s not surprising. He is known for his strange ideas.

He is the one who decided last year that legal 4D shops in the state have to go.

He decided to close all the outlets, which paid taxes to the government, but was soon left complaining about sundry shops that had taken the 4D business underground, losing the government millions in income.

Fuming, he threatened to also shut down sundry shops that ran illegal 4D businesses on the side.

For now, though, he has to live with having the legal 4D outlets running at least until December. The Federal Government has again outgunned him – by renewing their licences.

In 2020, Sanusi was in the news when he announced that Kedah had discovered a rare mineral which he would not name.

He said it was worth up to RM62bil and promised to extract the mineral using a new pipe-based extraction method.

That wacky idea led to the state being called Wakedah, after the fictional Marvel Universe city. To this day, the extraction has still not been named and neither has the mineral.

Maybe Sanusi could revive that idea and use the land that he plans to use as ketum farms for extraction of the unnamed mineral.

He could still make the farmers rich without having to feed drug habits.

Or better yet, get the 600,000 farmers to do just that – farm. We could then have food security, another major problem brought on by climate change. Food security can also take the country to high-income status in a few years.

There is no need for narcotics. We’ve already had Wakedah, we don’t need a Kedadah!