Johor prince: Stop turning cycle accident into race issue
He says he has personally encountered teenage cyclists riding dangerously in front of his car.
PETALING JAYA: A Johor prince has come out strongly against those taking a racist angle in the death of eight cyclists in an accident on Feb 18.
Tunku Temenggong Johor Tunku Idris Sultan Ibrahim criticised those encouraging others to gather and protest against the driver involved in the accident.
In an Instagram post, he urged Johoreans to stop turning the incident into a racial issue.
“Is this how civilised Johoreans behave?
“Stop playing the blame game,” he wrote.
Tunku Idris said he had encountered teenage cyclists riding dangerously in front of his car.
He pointed out that the children were on the road without helmets or any kind of protection.
The prince expressed his condolences to the families for losing their loved ones.
He said he himself had lost a family member and said he could empathise with them in this difficult time.
“I hope you find peace and strength during this difficult time.
“Let’s not blame the parents and let’s not blame the lady driver. She has more rights to be on that highway than underage kids on bicycles with no helmets and other protection gear on.
“Let’s come up with a solution to avoid the same thing from happening again.”
On Feb 18, eight cycling youths died, two others were badly injured and six more slightly injured when a car rammed into them in the 3am incident on Jalan Lingkaran Dalam here.
A bicycle protest rally called at Dataran Bandaraya Johor today did not materialise following warnings by police. However, a later news report said seven teenage cyclists, with modified bicycles, were detained near the area at 10am.
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Police had detained two individuals for urging the public to join in the illegal rally and for verbally bashing police regarding the incident.