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Deadly crashes spur calls to ban Malaysia Yamaha RX-Z gathering
Malaysian federal traffic police recorded 46 motorcycle crashes around the event period from July 30 to August 2, including 11 fatalities.
A surge in deadly accidents linked to Malaysia’s Yamaha RX-Z gathering in Terengganu has prompted calls to scrap the annual event, though motorcycle enthusiasts argue the backlash wrongly targets a broader community of owners and collectors.
According to SCMP Economy, federal traffic police logged 46 motorcycle crashes between July 30 and August 2, including 11 fatal cases, five serious crashes and 30 minor ones. Police data also showed 29 of the riders involved were aged 18 to 30, and 44 of the 46 were men.
SCMP Economy reports that more than 200,000 devotees of the discontinued RX-Z converged on Terengganu earlier this month for RXZ Members 8.0. The incident has reignited debate over Mat Rempit, a Malaysian term for illegal motorcycle street racers, as social media intensified demands for the gathering to be banned.
Enthusiasts, however, say equating large numbers of RX-Z owners and collectors with illegal street racing misses how the aging two-stroke motorcycle has become tied to a wider identity and youth and working class culture in Malaysia.