'Hitting him like this is abuse': Malaysian boy, 11, goes viral for driving dad's car, gets beaten by a group of men
A motorist in Malaysia was flabbergasted when he spotted a kid behind the wheel of a car.
His encounter with the 11-year-old boy in Sibu, Sarawak, has gone viral after he anonymously uploaded a video of their conversation to a local Facebook group on Tuesday (June 4).
In the 30-second-long clip, the man said the boy was 12. It shows the boy — seated in the driver's seat of a white car — rolling down the window as the man questioned in Mandarin: "You're 12 years old and you have a licence?
"Where are your parents? Why are you driving someone else's car?"
In response, the boy mutters that he has a driving licence, that his parents are at home and that it is his father's car. He shakes his head and asks 'why?' when the man says he is going to lodge a police report.
The boy then rolls up the window and drives off after the man tells him to. The latter also says he is going to film the car licence plate.
Sibu district police chief Assistant Comissioner Zulkipli Suhaili said the child and his father were located on Wednesday evening and taken to the police station, reported Bernama.
"The investigation found that the driver of the car, who was an 11-year-old boy, is autistic and has medical records at the Psychiatry Specialist Clinic, Sibu Hospital," he added.
The father was issued a summons for allowing his son to drive.
Group of men confront boy
But it appears that the boy is still driving on the roads even after getting caught, reported Malaysian media outlet World of Buzz.
A second video circulating online shows a group of men surrounding the boy. One of them was hitting him with a cloth.
The boy can be heard wailing as he squats down after the beating, before darting back to the driver's seat of his father's car.
"He's going into the car again," says one of the men in Mandarin.
The video then cuts to the boy screaming incoherently while in the driver's seat as a man hits and scolds him: "How many times must I say this? Why do you still want to play? Can you sit in the passenger seat and let your father drive?"
When the boy shouts no, the man slaps him on the face again and says: "We're teaching you a lesson now, don't get your father into trouble!"
Both videos have shocked netizens, who criticised the boy for his reckless actions. Many also called out the boy's parents for not disciplining him and putting other road users at risk.
The confrontation between the boy and the group of men has also sparked protest from some netizens, who felt that it was improper to hit the child.
"Why didn't they take him to the police station? Hitting him like this is abuse and he's underaged, what if you hit him too hard and something happens?" a Facebook user said.
"Although the kid has committed a serious wrongdoing, hitting him is not the right solution — talk it out instead!" wrote another.
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lim.kewei@asiaone.com
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