Society to blame for gangsterism

Gangs should be viewed as a failure of society to include these youngsters in a positive way.

COMMENT

There is a general concern among Malaysians over the invasion of social media by gang members who put up their logos and signs via Facebook.

Many of us are quick to put all the blame on the gang members for their involvement in gangsterism.

But, it is imperative to look at this problem more holistically.

People who opt for violence are generally poor, without jobs and marginalised due to ethnic identity as well as lack of hope for the future.

Violence is also preferred when people lose faith in the police and the judicial system that do not care to protect anyone outside a particular political coalition.

Being part of the gangs is one way to defend oneself and their loved ones against any aggression and avoid becoming a victim.

We tend to visualise that only boys and men are becoming gang members but increasingly more girls are doing so today. But still gangs are dominated by men.

This is due to the society’s male dominance that asserts that real man should be ready to fight, not flee.

Thus, it is not a surprise to see young boys, who are always reminded to be a “real man”, joining gangs and behaving violently in the face of danger.

It is also not uncommon to hear phrases like “Lu Langsi Lu Mati” (You Arrogant You Die) from gang members. It is puzzling when trivial things like maintaining eye contact for too long can be considered a sign of disrespect to a gang member.

However, we need to realise that this ultra-sensitivity might be rooted from gang members’ sense of insecurity over their safety.

Sense of identity

Gangs give a sense of identity to its members who are made invisible by our unjust society.

Why is it so easy for the gangs to recruit members directly from secondary schools? It is during the secondary school period, teenagers often experience the beginning of identity crisis before reaching adulthood.

No thanks to the government that never seem to realise the importance of having equally-valued academic and vocational streams in schools.

Those students who do not fit into the academic environment turn to other avenues such as gangs to form their personal identity.

Being born into dysfunctional families and poor neighbourhoods, these students also have no better role models than their area gang leaders. Gangs also give the teenagers a much-needed sense of belonging.

Furthermore, gang members are often hired by some politicians to help in playing dirty politics such as engaging in unlawful election campaigns and assaulting peaceful demonstrators.

Others in authority give legal protection to the gang members in return for a share of the underground business.

The support gang members receive from politicians and those in authority will only reinforce the idea that gang membership is a good thing to have.

Collective responsibility

Thus, gangs should be viewed as a failure of society to include the youngsters in a positive way.

Yes, gangsters pose a real threat to the rest of the society and it is absolutely vital to eradicate gangsterism as soon as we can. We need to intervene and send gang members for rehabilitation.

More importantly, in the wake of the social media invasion by the local gangs, it is also time to think of preventive measures to stop more youngsters from getting involved with bad hats.

These preventive strategies need to begin with an understanding of the root causes of gangsterism such as the breakdown of family and community structures, lack of economic opportunity, ethnic inequity, limited role models and power-abusing authorities.

TamilSelvan Ramis is a FMT columnist