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Fionna Lee

Gangsterism Among Teenagers in Malaysia



As gangsterism in Malaysia has become a serious issue and often takes place nowadays, experts have been studying different cases to find out the cause and effect of it among teenagers.

According to the Royal Malaysian Police Force, students that are involved in gangsterism can be classified into three types which are school hooligans, thug’s gang, and triad gangs. As for the public, gangsters are known as members of a gang of criminals who like to achieve whatever they want through violating.


A study was conducted by the ministry of education and the Crime Prevention Foundation of Malaysia to study gangsterism among secondary schools. It has shown that the three major causes of gangsterism among teenagers are their living conditions, learning achievement as well as family. As parents nowadays tend to spend more time on their works to make ends meet, they pay less attention to their children. As a result, the children often feel alone and tend to seek their parents’ attention by involving in gangsterism. On the other hand, some teenagers are involved in gangsterism due to peer pressure. As we are aware, friends can be as close as our family members which we trust a lot. However, it is hard for teenagers to distinguish the good from the bad as they are still innocent. When their friends are involved in gang activities, the innocent teenagers will be influenced and joined as well. There are also some teenagers who wanted to get respect from their friends and ended up joining gangsters. Lastly, some teenagers who are weak in academics tend to give up on themselves and join gang activities so that they will not be looked down upon by others. Hence, it is undeniable that teenagers are involved in gangsterism because of their family, living condition, and learning conditions.


GIF from Giphy


Gangsterism has brought along huge impacts mentally and physically not only to the teenagers themselves but also on the people around them. Victims of gangsterism will not only lose self-confidence, but they might also suffer from depression and might as well commit suicide. As for the teenagers who are involved in gangsterism, they might not realize their mistakes and might end up doing things that can endanger their lives.


Apart from that, research was conducted with a group of 12 students from Taylor’s College to find out thoughts of teenagers joining gangsterism. All interviewees are aged between 17 to 21 and are all studying in the field of Mass Communication. A total of 9 questions are being answered by the group of students and the result was analysed. According to the results, the respondents think that teenagers that are involved in gangsterism are mostly rebellious and wanted to be different from others. They are also some who think that the teenagers are from bad or poor living environments which influenced them to be a gangster to achieve things and money that they want.


To sum up, gangsterism among teenagers is a serious topic in which people from all walks of life should be aware of. Not only that the parents are responsible in this case but the teachers, government and even the teenagers themselves should be responsible as well.




Written by Fionna Lee

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