Starting ‘em Young(er)

It used to be that folks would look at their children fondness and pride as the young ones ventured out on their own. Typically, they would say: “They grow up so fast, don’t they?”

Lately, however, it seems more and more parents have cause to lament: “They go wrong so young, don’t they?”

As if city dwellers didn’t have enough worries, what with Mat Rempit, snatch/slash/smash thieves, robbers, rapists, carjacking gangs and psychotic motorists, now we have the threat of “terror teens”.

These are gangs of teenagers – dozens of them – who have reportedly taken to haunting parts of Kuala Lumpur after dark.

It is said they beat up and rob passers-by, harass shopkeepers and their customers, sniff glue and in general make a nuisance/menace of themselves.

KL’s gangs of youngsters are believed to be in the employ of syndicates which engage them to steal hot items like mobile phones and gadgets.

Some of these juveniles are even thought to be from well-to-do families, going by their expensive hairdos and clothes. So, it looks like the full path for the aspiring Malaysian career criminal is now complete. The pieces are all in place for an early start to one’s life of crime.

You begin as a teen terror/juvenile delinquent. Then you “graduate” to Mat Rempit, or maybe snatch thief.

At the same time, you move up from sniffing glue to smoking ganja and then doing hard drugs.

It’s a short hop to drug trafficker or carjacker or robber or rapist or kidnapper or gangland muscle.

The pay and the hours may be appealing but the benefits suck. There’s no insurance or provident fund, and instead of a corner office, the best you can hope for after scoring that huge payday is a corner plot in your hometown cemetery.

The career highlight would be getting shot dead while trying to run down/escape from/shoot it out with the police; or perhaps done in by your own buddies when you become an inconvenience, an obstacle or a threat.

But it will be like this only if everyone gives up on the wayward kid and allows him/her to continue down the path to ruin; only if there are no parents, family members, friends or teachers who care.

Do these troubled teens have such anchors in their lives? Chances are that there’s at least one person in each youngster’s life who can reach out and make a difference.

The kind of problem we’re seeing are no different from what we’ve been reading about and viewing in news reports and TV-movies for years – only they used to take place in the so-called (in the words of some politicians) decadent, culturally/morally bankrupt, materialistic and ill-mannered place.

So how did this social ill seep into our guarded, respectful, filial, moral society?

Chances are, many of these delinquents fall into bad company because of being neglected, or ignored, or losing faith – becoming invisible and voiceless in their own homes, schools and peer groups for a variety of reasons.

I strongly believe that a lot of the time, they just want acknowledgement and respect – for their methods of expression, their opinions, and their identity.

It’s when they realize that the so-called mutual respect so frequently cited by their elders is actually just a one-way street that the rebellion begins.

So we shouldn’t be surprised that these wayward teens go the way of Oliver Twist. Like Charles Dickens’ young protagonist, they may have first hooked up with someone more or less in their age group (like the Artful Dodger) who in turn led them to an older criminal mastermind (a Fagin type), complete with murderous associate (Bill Sykes).

But, as harsh and gritty as Dickens’ tale was, Oliver still had a happy ending.

However, there isn’t one, or even a grad-bag or mixed blessings, waiting for today’s real-life Oliver; not if the people who matter in their lives do not intervene in time.

Parents owe it to their children to be aware of their whereabouts at all times, and to show some concern for what they get up to. Certainly, your kids deserve better than to be offloaded on someone else at the first available opportunity.

Older family members have an obligation to give a damn about their nephews, nieces, siblings, cousins, or grandkids.

Teachers and schools ... wow, there’s an entire column I there about what our education system can do to make the process vital and relevant, and not alienate so many of those who go through it. Suffice to say that for a start, we should seriously stop perpetuating the kiasu syndrome of scoring double-digit distinctions.

I believe it is not too late for these teen gangsters and other underage criminals.

It is only incumbent upon society to NOT write them off, or consign them to the scrap heap of life – something we do all too well, and way to readily.

They have to be shown that there is something better for them, and this can only happen with the support and love of family and friends.

It’s also time our society caught up with its social ills, in terms of outreach and support programmes – and most importantly, parenting education.

Finally, for those stubborn juvenile delinquents who think crime is glamorous and preferable to making an honest go of life, there’s nothing like a Scared Straight programme to put them back on track.

That was the title of an Academy Award-winning documentary from 1978 that featured a gang of brash, real-life juvenile delinquents who were taken to New Jersey state prison where they were harangued by a group of life-term convicts.

It was an attempt to scare them out of a life of crime, and it succeeded. Today, all the members of that initial group lead responsible lives.

Sequels followed, and many American states introduced similar programmes.

If memory serves me correctly, we’ve experimented with this concept a little here but nothing on an organized, nationwide scale.

Perhaps such a programme might work here too: exposing our own terror teens to the harshness of prison life and having them hear tales of woe and misery first-hand from those who have been chewed up by the system.

And if any kid still thins there is appeal in a life of crime, well, it won’t be long before the realization dawns that “life” and “crime” don’t go together at all.