"Jangan main-main dengan saya" ("Don't play play (fool around) with me"). So says Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein to groups of gangsters which have been targeting students as potential recruits.
"Hunt them to the end of the earth" Datuk Seri says as he vows to ensure that our students and younger generation will not be spoiled by these gangs.
Commendable indeed. I hope Datuk Seri realises that gangsterism has existed for many years and has much connection in some schools in the country. I truly hope that he will, once and for all, chase these crooks to the end of the earth and save our students from corruption of morals. Why am I so hopeful? I encountered them myself during my schooling days.
Back in the 90s, I had the privilege of attending 2 different secondary schools because my dad was transferred from one town to another. Let's just name them School A and School B.
I was in School A in 1987 as a First Former. It is a boys' school (though now it is a co-ed school). I enrolled into that school with my best friend from primary school (it's natural to want to be with your best friend). I remembered what my best friend told me before we went to School A for the very first day of school "Stick close to me. If anybody ask you to "join them", just politely decline". My best friend's elder brother who happens to study in the same school was a school prefect. We were warned about gangsters. I was still innocently wondering what are these gangsters about.
On the very first day of school, I followed my best friend. We were at the school canteen waiting for the school session to start when true enough, we were approached by some students (who do no tuck in their shirt to look cool and tough) to join them for a fee. We were told that we would be protected by big brothers from outside the school if we were ever bullied. We politely declined. Luckily, they left us alone. There are, however, some students who bought into their stories and joined these gangs. We see monies exchanging hands (I was told then that the fee ranges from RM20.00 onwards per month) and recruits kneeling down in front of "big brother" offering a bottle of coke as a sign of respect. Not unlike triad movies. Only that these students need not go through more elaborate rituals like slaughtering a cockerel and drinking blood. It was not uncommon to see student gangs squaring off in school over some issues. I once saw some students (gangs) challenging each other to fights using broken soft-drink bottles. There were chinese gangs, indian gangs and of course, malay gangs. Foul language was part of their vocabulary and classroom tables were adorned with vulgar graffitis.
I was transferred to School B in Form 2. It is a co-ed school. I thought it would be a good change. How wrong I was. In Form 4, I was appointed a Deputy Head Prefect and I was given a nickname in school as "Ngeow Chee" (something to do with being very picky, I think) by the naughty boys. One day, during the school assembly, I told a fellow student to keep quiet as he was blabbering away with his friends whilst the school principal was addressing the students.
Now, a good habit in School B is that prefects are required to do gardening work in the school compound every fortnight (if I remembered well). So there I was, with other prefects doing gardening one Friday afternoon. I was walking towards a school block when I was cornered by about 5 boys (including the boy I asked to shut up). Unfortunately, I was cornered at an area which was not visible to other students in school. What happened? I was given a slap in the face for telling their friend to shut up during assembly. I was also threatened with more harm if I continued my ways. Some of these boys are not from school as they seemed more adult looking than students. Anyway, I told my discipline teacher about it. Imagine my disappointment when I was told "not to be so strict next time".
What the? Here I am discharging my duties for which I was appointed and you are not there to defend me or offer to investigate when I was given a slap and threatened? I lost all respect I had for that teacher of mine from that day onwards. He was probably more afraid that these boys will turn against him if he took any further action in this matter.
So, Datuk Seri, if you are reading this blog (ha! ha! I wish!), please be a hero to all the innocent students out there! Hunt them to the end of the earth! If you succeed, I will consider voting for you to be the next UMNO leader (so that you can become the Prime Minister) if you stand for elections so that you can then hunt all the other rotten scoundrels of this nation to the end of the earth!
"Hunt them to the end of the earth" Datuk Seri says as he vows to ensure that our students and younger generation will not be spoiled by these gangs.
Commendable indeed. I hope Datuk Seri realises that gangsterism has existed for many years and has much connection in some schools in the country. I truly hope that he will, once and for all, chase these crooks to the end of the earth and save our students from corruption of morals. Why am I so hopeful? I encountered them myself during my schooling days.
Back in the 90s, I had the privilege of attending 2 different secondary schools because my dad was transferred from one town to another. Let's just name them School A and School B.
I was in School A in 1987 as a First Former. It is a boys' school (though now it is a co-ed school). I enrolled into that school with my best friend from primary school (it's natural to want to be with your best friend). I remembered what my best friend told me before we went to School A for the very first day of school "Stick close to me. If anybody ask you to "join them", just politely decline". My best friend's elder brother who happens to study in the same school was a school prefect. We were warned about gangsters. I was still innocently wondering what are these gangsters about.
On the very first day of school, I followed my best friend. We were at the school canteen waiting for the school session to start when true enough, we were approached by some students (who do no tuck in their shirt to look cool and tough) to join them for a fee. We were told that we would be protected by big brothers from outside the school if we were ever bullied. We politely declined. Luckily, they left us alone. There are, however, some students who bought into their stories and joined these gangs. We see monies exchanging hands (I was told then that the fee ranges from RM20.00 onwards per month) and recruits kneeling down in front of "big brother" offering a bottle of coke as a sign of respect. Not unlike triad movies. Only that these students need not go through more elaborate rituals like slaughtering a cockerel and drinking blood. It was not uncommon to see student gangs squaring off in school over some issues. I once saw some students (gangs) challenging each other to fights using broken soft-drink bottles. There were chinese gangs, indian gangs and of course, malay gangs. Foul language was part of their vocabulary and classroom tables were adorned with vulgar graffitis.
I was transferred to School B in Form 2. It is a co-ed school. I thought it would be a good change. How wrong I was. In Form 4, I was appointed a Deputy Head Prefect and I was given a nickname in school as "Ngeow Chee" (something to do with being very picky, I think) by the naughty boys. One day, during the school assembly, I told a fellow student to keep quiet as he was blabbering away with his friends whilst the school principal was addressing the students.
Now, a good habit in School B is that prefects are required to do gardening work in the school compound every fortnight (if I remembered well). So there I was, with other prefects doing gardening one Friday afternoon. I was walking towards a school block when I was cornered by about 5 boys (including the boy I asked to shut up). Unfortunately, I was cornered at an area which was not visible to other students in school. What happened? I was given a slap in the face for telling their friend to shut up during assembly. I was also threatened with more harm if I continued my ways. Some of these boys are not from school as they seemed more adult looking than students. Anyway, I told my discipline teacher about it. Imagine my disappointment when I was told "not to be so strict next time".
What the? Here I am discharging my duties for which I was appointed and you are not there to defend me or offer to investigate when I was given a slap and threatened? I lost all respect I had for that teacher of mine from that day onwards. He was probably more afraid that these boys will turn against him if he took any further action in this matter.
So, Datuk Seri, if you are reading this blog (ha! ha! I wish!), please be a hero to all the innocent students out there! Hunt them to the end of the earth! If you succeed, I will consider voting for you to be the next UMNO leader (so that you can become the Prime Minister) if you stand for elections so that you can then hunt all the other rotten scoundrels of this nation to the end of the earth!
