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Last updated 05 Aug 2003

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The New Paper - 14 Feb 2003

Don't worry, these Singapore bikers just want to have fun

... and raise money for charity

By Sheela Narayanan

A BLACK Sabbath song, leather jackets and gleaming Harley Davidsons - you can almost expect The Terminator to step out of a swirling sandstorm any minute.

Only, there is no big screen, dark warrior here. Just a group of Singaporean men that includes fathers and civil servants who do G-rated things. Such as forming a motorcycle club called The WarPigs.

Raising money for an orphanage.

Getting wind in their hair while riding north of the border.

LOW KEY

The club tries to stay low key - its members will only reveal their first and 'biker' names. However, dressed in leather or denim jackets with their 'WarPigs Singapore Motorcycle Club' logo emblazoned on the back, they do attract attention when they ride their Harleys together.

The WarPigs is not a registered society. It does not even have a website like some of the other motorcycle clubs. (See report below.)

The club spokesman, Mr Nasir 'Nutz' (biker name), said there is a reason for keeping a low profile: 'Most of us work in government organisations or have sensitive jobs. So it can be troublesome.'

Nutz, who is in his late 30s, works in the shipping line.

He said the WarPigs have been around since late 1996, when 'seven guys' just wanted to 'promote ruggedness and fun among Harley Davidson riders'.

To do that, they make frequent road trips to Malaysia. And since 1997, they have been riding up to Phuket, Thailand, every April to raise money for an orphanage there. A 16-hour ride gets them to Haadyai for an overnight stay, before riding another six to eight hours to Phuket.

Another member, Mr Rizal 'Hann', said they can do about 2,000km easily.

The WarPigs now has 30 active members. And the group claims with pride that it is 100 per cent Singaporean and not a local chapter of any international Harley group.

WHAT'S WITH THE NAME?

Since the founding members were into '70s rock, the club took its name from a song in Black Sabbath's 1970 album, Paranoid.

However, misunderstanding does kick in.

Nutz said the lyrics are 'supposed to be a wake-up call to fight for something you believe in', but the song has also been associated with Satan worship.

'At that time, we invited a few people to join, but they said they were not going to associate themselves with this,' he said.

The name also conjures up an image of lawlessness.

'Due to the logo and the history of bikers, most people associate us with some outlaw motorcycle gangs. But we are not a hardcore group. We are a fun club,' said Nutz.

Most of the members say they are devoted family men with regular jobs who just happen to love Harley Davidsons.

It is estimated that each of them spends between $20,000 and $50,000 accessorising and modifying their bikes - such as changing a 19-litre petrol tank to one that holds about 21 to 24 litres, for example.

For the civil servants in the group, their interests do not go down well with their bosses sometimes.

One member, Mr Hafiz 'Fizzer', said even his red and black leather jacket unnerves his employers. When a picture of the group was published in a magazine, he had to 'do a lot of explaining' about his activities.

Right now the club is expanding, with two WarPigs chapters in Malaysia and Japan.

'The Japanese members used to work in Singapore and rode with us. When they returned home, they started their own WarPigs there,' said Nutz.

Now, they are helping to start the Thailand chapter.

'It's good that people want to know about us. We want to show that this negative image we have is not true,' he added.

OTHER BIKE CLUBS HERE

SO far there are only two motorcycle clubs in Singapore registered with the Registrar of Societies.

One is the Storm Riders Motorcycling Club, the first local biking community club. Its president is Non-Constituency Member of Parliament Steve Chia.

The other is the local chapter of the International Harley Owners Group.

Both clubs have their own websites.

A web search found six other Singapore-based motorcycle clubs, named Team 27 Superbikers, Easy Riders Singapore, Black Suns-Harley Riders Singapore, Motovarsiti, 2 wheelers and BMW Motorcycle Club Singapore.