Week Six.

Gangsterism in Malaysia

               According to The Star newspaper in Malaysia at 6^th September 2013 (Friday), it has brought out the issue of gangsterism in Malaysia, and also throwing a question as what causes people to gangsterism ? Obviously it's known that there is much unethical act being done by gangsters. But somehow what do they gain by it? Regarding to this issue the media has made some investigation through interviewing two former gangsters.

          Ramu is one of the interviewee throughout the case and he is joining into the gangster as he was in poverty and he thought of being one of the gangsters could make him rich. He do also describe the activities that he have been through such as running drugs by earning RM15,000 per trip and also handling table talks. But there was two incidents happened as his father died and he became the head of the family and there is a fight but due to some family matters he is unable to join and after all his friends were all caught and imprisoned.  As a result, Ramu decided to quit.

Hereby, Vasu, a young boy being poor in his studies and is involved in some harmful activities and has been thrown out from the school. With the consequences of no jobs available in KL and being poverty, again he involved in the wrong direction again. He has to pay RM101 every month and the extra money that he has earned, he spent it on drinking and having fun. Vasu has been through a wasted life throughout the years. Also, he used to be some Datuks and Tan Sris orang upah (hired help) by protecting their work sites. If they got caught, the gang leaders or the VIPs will usually bail them out. Vasu then raised to become one of the trusted lieutenant until his leader is been kidnapped , murdered and being buried in an estate , his wife and children are both suffering during the whole incident , Vasu decided to quit and left , and become a man which runs his own business. In a nutshell through both cases, it shows that poverty driving them to gangsterism.

There are also some articles which states that gangsters are nowadays getting brutal. In the old days of Vasu and Ramu , joining to be a gangster just require a drop of blood into a cup but nowadays m the youngsters are required to even pull off a snatch theft, robbery or even drive a knife into someone to become a qualified members of the gang. They’re even involved in activities such as chopping off someone’s hand and killing someone by frequently hitting him with a helmet ruthlessly.

Hence, they are also students having no choice to join the gang. Weapons such as high-powered rifles and bullets are also found in a vacant house and it’s dangerous. There are also criminals produce hundred numbers of fake credit cards and passport to run some business. Significantly , these are all unethical acts being done.

According to http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=gangsterism (2004) it states that, gangsterism is subscribing to a course of action reminiscent of organized crime. Acting or conducting business in a way that is violent and totally without conscience. Acting like a gangster/thug/hoodlum. Running business or holding a high government position with the help of hired guns, intimidation and the occasional assassination.

After observing the issue upon gangsterism as stated in the references that I have acquired from The Star newspaper which falls on 6^th September 2013 , hereby I would like to further discuss about the current issue due to our country (Malaysia) national development from the social , and a little of political and economic aspect.

According to http://www.ask.com/question/what-is-the-definition-of-social-issues (2013), it defines social problem as Social issues are moral problems that affect a member or members of a society directly or indirectly. Some of these issues include poverty, divorce, bullying, incest, civil rights, corruption, pornography, abortion, abuse, crime, and education. And what are the root factors which causes all these negative consequences which generate a big impact towards the whole society?

As stated by the case mentioned in the content of this report ,  Gangsterim , which includes running violence activities to obtain certain items , can be caused by one of the social problem , poverty. In my personal opinion, this is caused due to a lower education level of the minority and improper distribution of welfare caused by the government among the whole society. Government provides insufficient effort to take care of the minority of poverty, and also without making sure that every resident in Malaysia is 100% guaranteed that they do own the opportunity to be educated. In these circumstances , the residents in Malaysia failed to own the opportunities to be educated upon being ethical in different scenarios. When it comes to certain hard situation in our life, it requires a positive mind-set and   better personal development skills in order to remain determined by choosing the right path while making some important decision. Also , the wrong message brought by the people telling that being one of the gangsters allows them to earn more money in a more efficient way even deteriorate that particular social issue. Also, it’s generally known that when some people is been caught for their crimes, most of them are back in action in no time at all as they usually bailed out by the gang leaders or the VIPs. Each time they were freed, they came out feeling bolder and this has negatively built the notion of they could get away easily. This is one of the factor which stimulates the unethical act as the gangsters are knowing that they are being able to be released easily from the country's law and regulations through improper methods.

The imbalance distribution of welfare which caused by the government do also causes the imbalance mentality of certain people as they find it very unfair of being treated in different way. And sometimes the poverty group in the society has been ignored due to the lack of concern by the government side.

It’s logical that the government charging income taxes and some other taxes from the consumer or working group , but in a normal sense these taxes is supposed to be used to take care of the minority group to increase the average living standards which benefits the whole society. But if these aren’t been done effectively, it may leads to the dissatisfaction of the paying groups. From the history of Malaysia, we can also see that only when people among that particular country are united, it leads to a successful development at the same time. Due to these reasons, I strongly recommend our government should focus more effort on taking care of the minority group such as the disabled group, the senior citizen and poverty group, instead of giving free vouchers and free subsidiaries to the better standard living group. These don’t benefit much towards the minority group in a more effective way. Also, human resources are always the most important assets in any industry, in order to value these “important assets” for a better development; our government should build a better education system and also allowing the younger generation own the opportunity to be educated. Thus, certain personal development skills such as self-confidence and communication skills should be included into the syllabus during a child growing period. These are the soft skills which possible to minimize some social issue as well. Only when the average standard living is higher , less poverty group exists in our country , some social issue is caused by poverty such as kidnapping , stealing , robbery , gangsterism due to lack of cost of living .

I would like to talk about another issue which is dilemma , the topic as Ms.Diana has brought out in the class , in my personal observation , as all the business organization are under such a competitive environment , they are generally facing cost constraints while offering a lower pricing strategy to their customers. When it comes to much constraints and limitation, there is a higher tendency where the business organization begins to act unethically to achieve their company objectives. 

Also, for the act of whistle blowing, it isn't easy to do it so which results in dilemma. But somehow some business organization even adds on something into the food which is even harmful in the future. 

          

            For my personal opinion , it’s totally unethical but somehow these consequences are all caused by the purchasing behaviour of consumers. When it comes to purchasing decision making , generally people are behave in more sensitive to price so a lower price item is always having a better competitive advantage , and the business organization is forced to face these limitation and constraints.