KOTA BARU: The roars have moved indoors. Since the World Cup started, the youngsters who used Jalan Melor in Ketereh for their street racing have locked up their motorbikes in the evenings to spend their time watching the games.
This has brought much relief to the residents in the area, who had to put up with the noisy machines every night before the football fest started early this month. Many of the street racers these days gather at the YKK Complex in Padang Kala, where the local Umno Youth division had put up a large screen in the hall to show the live matches from Germany. The screen, said to be the largest in Kelantan, is about 6m by 6m and was installed by the Ketereh Umno Youth division from funds raised through their members and football supporters. Kelantan Umno information head Datuk Md Alwi Che Ahmad said the residents had commended the move, as there had been a sharp drop in illegal racing along Jalan Melor, a notorious stretch known for such activities. Md Alwi, who is gunning for Brazil to win the World Cup, said it was a positive move as it took the attention of the youths away from their dangerous racing. "They now prefer sitting down to watch matches instead of performing daredevil stunts," he said, when interviewed here. Md Alwi said as many as 5,000 people gathered at the hall nightly to watch the games and the event had become a family carnival as people from surrounding villages also came here to soak up the football frenzy. He added that many of them dressed up in the jerseys of their favourite teams, bought from bordering Thai towns where imitations are cheap and easily available. Md Alwi said the organisers allowed traders to set up food and souvenir stalls outside the hall so that those viewing the matches could enjoy snacks and buy football novelty items. The police, however, have found that the World Cup fever had not stopped criminals, as the crime index had not shown any marked decrease. State deputy CID head Supt Shafee Ismail, who supports Argentina, said the police believed that there were unscrupulous people taking advantage of the live screenings to break into homes while the family watches the televised matches.//Thestar 26 June ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Great things are happening at Yahoo! Groups. See the new email design. http://us.click.yahoo.com/TISQkA/hOaOAA/yQLSAA/ZP59lB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/perakan/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
