Gang members were victims too by Siyun

Mon, Nov 22, 2010 Summary:

There are a few reasons for joining gangs.The teenagers who chose this path only come from lower-income or broken families, some wealthy people might also choose the gang’s path in order to be rebellious as their parents are too protective of them.

The public and government are placing more emphasis on gangs and the youth nowadays because of the increasing number slashing incidents that occurred in Singapore recently.

Social workers have revealed that some of the gang members were actually victims of bullying in the past, and they joined gang as they do not want to be bullied anymore.

My opinions:

Nowdays, many teenagers who claimed that they are from gangs are creating trouble in broad daylight, such as the slashing case in Bukit Panjang or Ang Mo Kio. We have been placing blame on them and viewing them negatively, but who has actually wonder about the reasons of themm joining gangs?



The number of parents working in Singapore is increasing more than ever nowadays, as they place a lot of importance on their career. They children are left to be taken care by maids, grandparents or other adults. We cannot really expect them to tell their problems to their maids, or grandparents who might not understand what they are trying to say. Parents should spend more time with their children, and take the initiative in showing more concern towards their daily life happenings so that they could give them good advice or offer help if they know that their child is being bullied or having other problems. If the parents impart good values to their children at a young age, the child would not seek unhealthy solutions, such as joining gangs to solve their problems.


Teenagers with gang problems should also seek help from adults or teachers and as friends, we should talk to our friends whose behaviours are violent or abnormal and try to help them.

Violence and causing hurt to innocent victims could have been avoided with such small steps.

From this article:

Gang members were victims too

Mon, Nov 22, 2010 RazorTV

By Shawn Lee Miller It is a common perception that youth who join gangs come from broken homes or lower income families. However, a former gang leader who now mentors youth involved in gangs reveals another kind of youth who would join a gang. "Their families are well-off but these youth are curious about gangs. Their house is too protective and they want to rebel against their family and that's where they join gangs." said Alex Lim, Mentor at Architects of Life. With the spotlight these days on gangs and the youth who join them, RazorTV spoke to social workers who work with youth involved in gangs to find out just what would drive a teenager to join a gang. "Some of them were victims first and they decided they don't want to be a victim of bullying anymore. One fine day they decide that I want to bully, I don't want to be bullied." said Charlene Heng, a social worker at YouthReach. Check out RazorTV for more clips on gangs as we delve into topics ranging from gang fights to the profile of a gangster to the influence of the movie Young & Dangerous.

Done by : Lee Si Yun