WHACK THEN BRAG - Singapore's Online Community

snoozy · 30-04-2007, 08:20 AM

Young thugs beat up people & post sickening videos online

ON 17 Apr, a 42-second video clip was posted on YouTube which revealed a savage attack at a basketball court in Singapore.

The exact location is not known.

It shows more than eight youths surrounding one victim, kicking and punching him as he tried to get away.

He was outnumbered as the gang pulled him down to the ground before kicking his head repeatedly like a football. The person recording the video was heard laughing.

In a final sickening act, with the victim now motionless, one of his attackers jumped on his limp body.

It's not known what happened to the victim, but ex-police officers who saw it said the attack was real and savage.

Another eight-minute-long video clip - posted on 4 Mar and set to fast-paced Hokkien music - shows a bare-bodied muscular teen beating up another boy at the lift landing of a HDB flat.

Gawking spectators line the staircase in the background. Some step into the frame at intervals to haul the cowering boy to his feet to face more bashing.

The title of the clip contains the word 'revenge', and has been viewed more than 3,000 times.

These beatings are nothing like the pretend fights and pranks some students here have been posting online.

This is the new world of gangsterism.

Former street corner gangs appear to have evolved into thugs who attack for little reason. Many of the attacks have taken place in town like the recent one near the Esplanade on 22 Apr.

Chan Voon Ho is now lying in Singapore General Hospital, his face swollen to twice its normal size. He suffered multiple fractures on his face and now breathes through a respirator.

He spent four days in the intensive care unit and the family told The New Paper on Sunday he will be there for about two more months.

The 17-year-old boy is the latest victim of a senseless and brutal attack by a gang of young thugs.

On 23 Apr, one day after Voon Ho was attacked, Mr Eugene Chua was beaten up after leaving a pub at Clarke Quay. The 31-year-old bar manager died two days later.

The attacks have always been brutal, but the new sickening dimension is some people are filming the beatings and then posting them on video-hosting sites such as YouTube.

Are youths here mimicking the youngsters in the US who post videos of fights?

Who are the young people behind such vicious attacks? Are they impressionable young teens getting their sadistic kicks?

Or are they part of organised gangs who have infiltrated the housing estates?

The numbers are sobering. In 2001, 250 young thugs were arrested for rioting.

By 2005, that number shot up to 512.

Some of these thugs are young.

In 2002, a group of nine youngsters were arrested after a gang fight. Armed with parangs, they came close to severing the hand of a young victim. The youngest in the gang was then only 14.

ANARCHIC

Gone are the days of secret societies with their rituals and hierarchy. Ex-police officers told The New Paper on Sunday that gangs now are anarchic and senseless. And they are taking the fights into the heartlands.

Young parang-wielding thugs have sparked fights everywhere from Woodlands to Bedok.

In December 2005, a 17-year-old boy was attacked in Jurong West in broad daylight by youngsters armed with parangs.

They chopped off his hand, but the boy was lucky enough that the stump was found and later reattached.

The attacks are frequent and savage enough for some youngsters to avoid some popular suburban shopping centres.

People working at Causeway Point, a popular mall in Woodlands, said fights between young men have erupted nearby in the past, especially after late-night movie screenings.

It happens so often that some young men avoid the area.

Hassan (not his real name), 18, said: 'The youngsters want to make a name for themselves, so they pick fights over small things like staring or girls.

'The newer 'gangs' prefer to concentrate on doing business - like selling illegal VCDs and drugs - rather than fight.'

FIGHTS WITH RIVAL GANGS

He said these gangs can be identified by the artistic designs they sport on their motorcycle helmets.

He said: 'Some of them are logos, like a dice or a man's face in the shadows, or tribal designs of the group's name. And all the group members have helmets in the same colour scheme, like black and yellow.'

Ahmad, not his real name, used to be a member of a gang made up of Malay youths.

Now in his mid-20s, he said secret handshakes, hand signs and passwords are part of 'gang-speak'.

He started hanging out with older members of the gang when he was 13, when he was still in school, but joined them when he was 16.

He dropped out of school before completing his secondary school education.

He said the gang he joined didn't usually take in young members - he was an exception because of his close relationship with the older members.

Rioting, selling illegal VCDs and DVDs were part and parcel of his life as a gang member.

On fights with rival gangs, he told The New Paper on Sunday: 'We didn't go around looking for trouble, we just hung out together and had a good time. But when rival gangs came to look for trouble, we had to defend ourselves and take them on.'

The gang operated in groups, each hanging out at a housing estate, so that they had a 'presence'. He claimed they did not fight over girls, but for 'honour' and 'pride'.

On why they have to be so brutal, Ahmad said: 'When you fight in a group, you get an adrenalin rush, and this makes you more daring and do things you normally won't do.

'And you can lose control.'

The law soon caught up with him, and Ahmad was sent to a boys' home for three years and later to prison for five years for rioting and selling illegal VCDs.

Ahmad said: 'When I was caught the first time, I was kind of hoping that I would be sent to a boys' home because I wanted to see what life was like in one. I thought they'd sentence me to 1 or 11/2years, but it was a shock to be sent there for three years.'

Life in the home wasn't 'too bad', because he made many friends.

But he went back to his old ways after he was released and was sentenced to jail.

He said he was also caned nine times.

Ahmad left the gang three years ago, but still keeps in touch with some friends.

Life as a gang member today is very different from what it was like when he first joined, Ahmad said. He claimed youths now pay a small fee to join a gang.

He said attacks have also been over trivial matters.

'People get into fights more easily, especially over minor things like staring incidents, girls and drunken brawls.'

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Source : The Electric New Paper

snoozy · 30-04-2007, 08:21 AM

Should sadistic show-offs be whacked?

SOME young thugs are pushing into a sadistic dimension when they fight.

Mr Md Yusof Ismail, CEO of Ain Society, a voluntary welfare organisation which works with youths at risk and their families, said some of these youngsters want to show off their 'handiwork'.

Mr Yusof said the advent of the Internet, handphones with camera functions, and video-hosting websites have made it easier for youths to 'brag about their exploits and achievements'.

He added: 'Because they can now film and record their acts of violence, some youths will pro-actively go out and look for trouble so they can post the fights on websites and brag about how they have 'been there, done that'.

'Of course, there are some fights which are staged, but it just goes to show how the desire to brag about such things have entered their lives and become so important that they have to fake them.'

But how do you deal with these people?

Do you take the soft approach, or a harsh one?

It depends on each individual's case, counsellors and former CID detectives said. But most seem to agree that a softer rehabilitative approach - like non-institutionalised counselling - is the way to go.

A retired senior detective with CID's Secret Society Branch feels that a soft approach should be used to 'frighten' the youths first.

He declined to be named.

He said: 'Rather than arrest and pack them straight into homes or prison (and cane them), it may be a better idea to talk to them and try to turn them around.

'To some of these youths, going to a boys' home, for instance, is a rite of passage which makes them 'well-regarded' and 'respected' when they are released.

'Many of these youths have no idea what it means when they first join gangs - they think it's cool and very grand to be identified with a bunch of people.'

Now that he's no longer in the murky world of gangsterism, Ahmad said a softer approach may have worked better on him.

He said: 'Being sent to a home or jail will make the offender look like a 'hero' to the rest of the gang members, especially the younger ones.

'But the offence and jail term will stick with you for the rest of your life, and I think it would have been better if someone sat down with me to tell me the implications when I was younger.'

Counsellors and a former Secret Society Branch detective also feel a softer approach would be a better deterrent than serving time in a home or prison, or caning.

Mr Yusof believes 'everyone can change'.

TAILOR TREATMENT

Mr Yusof, who has been a counsellor for 20 years, told The New Paper on Sunday: 'There is no one foolproof approach to rehabilitating youths who've been involved in gangs or secret societies.

'The key is identifying why they join these groups, and then tailoring the treatment and rehabilitation method from there.

'Even when youths go back to their old ways, we must try to understand why the counselling failed before and fix the 'stumbling blocks'.'

Among the reasons why youths join gangs are:

Boredom: There is nothing to look forward to, or do, after school, so joining a gang gives the youth a false sense of direction.

Abuse at home: There is no outlet for the teens to channel their frustrations, so they join gangs and revel in the opportunities where they get to fight or beat other youths.

Bullying in schools: Youths who are bullied in school suffer from a low self-esteem. Hence, they believe that they will be protected if they join a gang.

Mafia in the movies: Some youths are influenced by the image of the triads in Hong Kong and Hollywood movies, and hero-worship the idea of being part of the mafia.

GANG HANGOUTS

Over the years, Mr Yusof, 49, has worked with teens who have been recruited into gangs and cajoled into committing crimes.

It used to be that boys were recruited into gangs, but over the last 10 years, he has dealt with several girls who were also active in gangs.

Recruitment spots need not necessarily be at schools. Void decks, pubs and clubs are popular gang hangouts, and hotspots for recruiting new members.

But counselling may not always work.

There are times when the stick works better than the carrot.

Mr Lionel de Souza, a former CID detective, said: 'Repeat and hardcore offenders should be thrown in jail and caned.

'There's only that much counselling you can give an offender and there should ultimately be a deterrent to warn would-be offenders.'

Mr Adrian Lim, a counsellor and managing director of The Young Entrepreneur Mastery, which helps in job training for former juvenile delinquents, said: 'Being institutionalised and caned may work for some people, and they will change.

'At the end of the day, the individual must want to change. If not, whatever you do will not matter.'

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Source : The Electric New Paper