It takes a Mahatma Gandhi-like personality to remain patient when driving in the Indonesian capital. But to Jakarta citizen Hubert Andi Wenas, the only way to react to reckless drivers on the road is to fight fire with fire. And, as in the video above, Andi is happy to record his encounters with “idiot drivers” and his methods of dealing with them.
That video is just one of many similar videos that Andi has uploaded to Youtube over the past few weeks. You’d think that Andi is either insane or simply dumb enough to deliberately crash his car into other vehicles. But it seems he is well prepared for his crusade:
Ichiro. Photo: Kaskus.co.id
Meet “Ichiro” (Japanese for ‘first son’), Andi’s beefed-up Suzuki Vitara that is equipped with a front-facing and a rear-facing camera. With additional metal reinforcement, Andi feels no need to hesitate when he wants to ram his Ichiro into a vehicle to dish out his own version of road justice. Take this incident, where Andi deals with a truck much bigger than his car:
But what happens when a so-called “idiot driver” challenges him to fisticuffs (bound to happen, given that Andi’s vocabulary seems to be limited to animalistic profanities when provoked by other drivers)?
Well, it looks like he’s well prepared for that, too.
Skip to 1:28, when Andi threatens to bash in the skull of a motorcyclist with his “communication tool” – a long, rusty pipe with a sharp end. Luckily, we haven’t seen any video in which Andi actually uses the weapon to split someone’s head open.
Interestingly, at 1:35 in that last video, a police officer just stood by and watched as Andi picked a fight with the motorcyclist.
Deliberately crashing into other vehicles is clearly illegal, regardless of the circumstances, but that is not why Andi found himself in trouble with the law recently.
Andi, who was revealed to be a professor at Binus University, was charged with violating rules regarding automotive modifications.
“The car is equipped with accessories, namely added bumpers and excessively bright lights, which could be bothersome to other road users,” a traffic police officer said as he ticketed Andi, as quoted by Kompas yesterday.
Not only that, the police even floated the idea that Andi and his Ichiro could become ambassadors for road discipline in Jakarta.
“Pak Wenas could indeed become an ambassador, because we find it difficult to find disciplined people on the road. If Pak Wenas wants to be disciplined, then it’s possible [that he could become an ambassador],” said Risyapudin, director of the Traffic Unit at the Jakarta Police, as quoted by Kompas yesterday.
For what its worth, Andi apologized to the police and the public for his actions. Although his videos have gone viral and been re-uploaded to Youtube several times now (as is the case with the ones above), Andi has taken down the originals from his own Youtube account.
“I apologize, because my actions have been wrong and I’ve created trouble for the police,” Andi said, as quoted by MetroTV yesterday.
“I’m aware of what I did. I hope nobody imitates my actions.”
Andi admitted that a traffic accident in the past put him on the path to road rage.
“A car bumped into mine from behind once,” Andi said, as quoted by VivaNews yesterday.
“So now I have the tendency to act tough to undisciplined drivers, especially when they pose a danger to other people’s lives.”
Be that as it may, we do not condone any of Andi Wenas’ reckless vigilantism. He should realize that this prolonged overreaction to a bump on his car has endangered his and many other people’s lives, which makes Andi his own worst enemy.
