The gangsterism issue in Malaysia is a hot topic as gangsterism has been

reported frequently by the media in Malaysia. In a study on "gangsterism among

secondary school" by the Ministry of Education in collaboration with the Crime
Prevention Foundation of Malaysia reported that serious misconduct exhibited by
secondary schools is primarily influenced by gangsters. The Royal Malaysian Police
Force on the other hand has classified students who participate in gangsterism into
three categories - triad gangs, thug's gangs and school hooligans. The statistical figure
was brought out by Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin during the Parliamentary session on June
9, 2010 portrays the number of students who involved with gangsterism. From the figure
, it stated that the number of students nearly doubled since 2005. It begins with 32
cases recorded and the numbers reach its high peak on 2008 with the value of 81.
Although, the number had slightly decreased to 60 cases in 2009, the number still
considered high compared to the earlier cases recorded in 2005.
Gangsterism "contaminates" the school environment and jeopardizes the
educational process. There can be serious long-standing effect such as physical,
emotional and psychological implications for both teachers and pupils including:
distress, reduced self-esteem, risk of depression and suicide, reduced school
attendance, impaired concentration, fear and a diminished ability to learn (WHO, 1997).
Not only do gangsters' activities pose a threat to the core business of the ministry of
education, but also the teaching and learning process is also hindered by such
practices.
Many feel that gangsterism is caused by the teenager himself. But, this
phenomenon is actually caused by the influences from the surrounding of the
teenagers. In most cases, those who involves in gang activities are influenced by their
school mates and friends who also involve in such activities. During this period,
teenagers are easily influenced by others because they are very sensitive and do not
want to feel left out by their peers. In order to win the respect from their friends, they join
these gangs. They are willing to involve themselves in gang activities such as extort
money from others, fighting and receive payment for threatening others although they
know that it is a negative activity. Besides, teenagers may also be influenced by the
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media to become a gangster. Nowadays, multimedia such as internet, television and

radio are very popular and common among the teenagers. However, there are many
dramas and movies that reflect gang activities and some even build the character of the
gangster as a hero. Teenagers that are still immature to think that gangsters in those
scenes are very cool and thus also become a gangster.
Sometimes, teenagers join gang just because they are not good in social
activities and want to attract others attention. Nowadays, many parents are busy with
their works and not concern about their childs psychological condition. Many teenagers
just want more attention and love from their parents but most of the parents could not
understand their childrens feeling. The condition becomes more complicated when
these children also face problems in their social life in school. They do not have friends
and do not know how to communicate with others. They started to feel helpless and
lonely but yet nobody can understand their feeling. Thus, some of these children try to
do something that can attract others attention such as getting involved in gang activities.
They also tend to express themselves by violence. For them, they have a strong sense
of belonging and identity in gang. This lets them feel more comfortable than living in a
world that no one can understand them.
Besides, those kids who expose to long-term violence, parental alcoholism,
domestic violence and child sexual abuse may also have higher rates to involve in
gangsterism (Youth Violence 2007, 14) This is because family violence teaches them
that criminal and violent activities are acceptable. These children have no warm and
love from their family and most of them tend to protect themselves from hurting by
others anymore. For them, nobody will protect them beside themselves. So, they
become gangsters and try to gain respect from others through illegal ways to prevent
themselves from being bullied. On the other hand, those teenagers who had previously
been bullied by a gangster might also join gang to protect themselves. Some of them
even join gang to wait for the chance to make their revenge to those who have bullied
them before. They have the wrong idea to treat violence in a wrong way. However,
sometimes teenagers might also join gang just to protect the one they love. In certain

condition, they are forced to join gang to protect themselves and also their friends and
family.
In order to solve the problem, the school authorities should organise motivational
talks. This is to make sure our students are aware of the danger of mixing with the bad
hats. Moreover the talks can encourage students to think positively and deter them to
even think of getting involved on a smaller scale. The talks would serve them as advice
from the experts. For instance, the police departrnent can be invited to give special talks
on gangsterism. They can inform students about the consequences that would be faced
by them if they are caught for gangsterism. With this, students will have the fear to join
any gang groups. Other important agencies such as the Prison department can also
send their representative to give a talk on the impact of staying in prison and why
choose become prisoners when you can avoid them. The National Drug Agency is
another example where they can send their representative and talk about usage of
drugs among gangsters.
Secondly, campaigns can be held in schools and towns to convey message
regarding gangsterism. Parents can also involve themselves in these campaigns and
give lights to their children on the reasons why their children should not be involved with
these gang members. Pamphlets and leaflets about gangsterism can be given to all
students to keep them informed about gangsterism and its negative effects. All students
must be involved with recreational and weekend activities organised by the school.
Then they would be fully occupied and would never have spare time doing nothing. This
will also deter them to join gang groups. Recreational activities such as jungle and
mountain trekking, camping, beach picnics can be organised by schools. They can also
do community and charity work which will help them to attain good moral values.
Apart from that, counselling sessions must be held to advise students who are
already involved in gangsterism activities. Teachers should do close monitoring and
have regular spot checks to find out about the movements of their students. Peer
observation can also be done by students so that they can inform teachers and parents.
Parents must have adequate skills to protect their children from gangsterism in schools.
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Students who get involved in gang fights should be punished by the school. For
students who give information about gangsterism in schools should be given rewards as
an encouragement so that this phenomenon could be curbed from spreading
In conclusion, gangsterism is caused by the influences of the surrounding, the
intention of teenagers to attract others attraction and to protect themselves.
Gangsterism also brings a lot of negative effects to the teenagers himself and the
society. So, to curb these social ills, parents, educators and society at large should be
aware of what is going on among our youths. Though there are various psychological
and physical factors that cause a person to choose to become a gang member, parents
or guardians should help nurture their children with love and respect to reduce this
problem. Teenagers should also control themselves by getting involved in healthy social
activities, such as sports and music to distance themselves from gang activities. As a
teenager, we should channel our anger into something else such as joining Boxing
Club, Taekwondo, singing or sports. We must understand that it is not correct to get
involved in gang to release our peer pressure. We must say 'NO' to negative behaviours
so that gang activities in our society will decrease until a safety level.

( 1359 words )

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