By Tay Tian Yan, Sin Chew Daily

I regret to say that majority of recent fatal road accidents involving drunk drivers have been caused by the Chinese.

And equally regrettably majority of Chinese Malaysians lack the consciousness to reflect on their own mistakes, and would continue to argue defensively that drinking is a Chinese culture that outsiders must not meddle with.

I have no idea what their understanding of their "culture" is. Based on their reasoning, opium-taking, foot binding, superstition and wife-beating and sex discrimination are all Chinese traditions that ought to be preserved and promoted.

I feel that such a concept needs to be redressed. Drinking is not a culture but a bad habit, whereas drink driving is a very bad habit that violates the law.

To make things worse, such a bad habit is hardly looked into seriously by the local Chinese community. In its stead, people see it as a show of valor and drink driving is a manifestation of gallantry and audacity.

For instance, in most feasts, people will encourage one another to drink until we get drunk before we'll leave for home.

And the host will tell you to finish your drink before you leave, instead of telling you not to drink too much as you will need to drive home later.

Some alcoholics will tend to boast that they manage to drive home in 20 minutes when they get drunk, for a journey that typically takes half an hour when they are sober. Rarely will people tell you that they called a cab or Grab to get home after drinking too much last night.

I hate to say that many Chinese Malaysians do not see drink driving as something wrong or bad. Many have taken it for granted, some feeling proud of it even.

If we don't see drink driving as a criminal offense in the same league as cheating and stealing, then we won't have the slightest sense of guilt at all for drink driving, and will carry on even though it is against the law.

To make things worse, we are living in a multicultural society in which drinking can be a sensitive issue. Fatal road accident due to drink driving could be a time bomb waiting to go off in our vulnerable society.

The truth is, serious road accidents owing to drink driving have happened every other day of late, with the victims being a Malay father on the way to work, a Malay food delivery boy and policeman on road block duty. Each of these incidents have dealt a severe blow on the victims as well as their families, and reignited the wrath in the Malay society.

While we have seen a lot of good deeds that embody the muhibbah spirit among Malaysians from different ethnic backgrounds, they would not offset the psychological harm caused by a single drink driving-induced accident. Such frustration could be elevated to an explosive level if it piles up over time to reach a saturation point.

Indeed, we can amend the existing laws or enact more stringent new ones to punish drink drivers including suspension of their driving licenses and mandatory imprisonment, among others.

But, this will not completely resolve the issue of drink driving.

Those who regularly drive under the influence of alcohol will hardly be bound by the laws.

Despite the heavy penalties meted out, they are hardly effective in stopping people from getting behind the wheel under the influence of alcohol.

Some may not understand the actual consequences of drink driving while others have thrown out the law along with the vomitus at the toilet or into the drain.

The people's attitude and lax enforcement on the part of the authorities are reasons the laws have not been taken seriously by the people.

We need more stringent laws and tougher enforcement to deal with the violators.

More importantly, the Malaysian Chinese community does not take this whole thing seriously enough. We must treat it as a very serious offense that must never be committed at all.

Parents must ban their children from driving while drink and wives must not allow their drunk husbands to drive. Restaurants that sell liquors must arrange Grab rides or provide a designated driver for a drunk customer, while the government and local Chinese associations should promote the culture of not driving after a drink.

It is now time to change our attitude and reverse an awful old habit.