Enforcement of wearing helmet in IIUM: What say you?

Beginning on July 2009, the university authority will be enforcing the practice of wearing helmet for the motorcyclist. The move, as said by the rector of IIUM, Prof. Dato’ Sri Dr. Syed Arabi Idid during the meeting with the Students’ Representative Council was done in order to create the walking environment and for the safety of the students themselves. From the session with the rector its look like the move is inevitable. However the IIUM authority is still accepting for a dialogue with the students, therefore on 27 Mei 2009, the SRC will be organizing a dialogue session to discuss this matter in depth.

What will be the effect on the student when the enforcement begins?

Well for one thing it is for the safety of the student itself, where most of death cases involving the motorcycles resulted from the head injury, hence by imposing the rule it can prevent the worst case scenario. We could however imagine that motorcyclists have to go to the kulliyyah wearing helmet, and not only kulliyyah, even when they want to go to the field or café in the next mahallah or even at ‘Waqec’, helmets must be on their head. Whether this will be the reality, it is still in the dark on the affected condition, however the possibility is there. Surely this will discourage the students to ride motorcycle in this campus, hence the intention of the IIUM authority to create the walking environment in IIUM. Is safety the serious concern in IIUM? Do many accidents with serious injury on the motorcyclist occur in our university? In-depth research needs to be done on this matter, and SRC is currently looking into this matter. However we need to know the views of the students, especially the motorcyclist regarding this issue.

Let us know your views and suggestions through our email at srciium.presidential@yahoo.com or response to our blog at http://src-iium.blogspot.com or SMS to 017 3982531. Your opinion is highly significant in determining the future of this issue in IIUM.