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The Malay Gangster

Chapter · January 2014

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Kamaludeen Mohamed Nasir

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Figures of Singaporean Modernity

The Malay Gangster

Kamaludeen Mohamed Nasir

Ajat is a former member of one of the most notorious yet popular triad gangs in
Singapore – the Sa La Kau (Hokkien for “369”). He now identifies himself with the
Omega gang. “Omega” is an acronym for Orang Melayu Enter Gangster Area (Malays
Entering the Gangster Area). The gang members are distinguished by the tattoos on
their arms, usually of the Greek letter Omega (Ω). They refer to each other as jam
tangan (wristwatch in Malay). Having agreed to meet Ajat for lunch one day, I was
surprised to receive a text message from him the day before, asking me to meet him
immediately if I wanted to interview him. The deal was for me to come alone. Upon
reaching the rendezvous point, I saw Ajat on his motorcycle, frantically urging me to put
on a helmet and hop on behind him. He told me that he was taking me to meet some of
the other gang members. I was caught off guard. “You look at what is written on this
helmet,” he said. “Does it mean anything to you? Now read it backwards. That‟s the
name of the gang.” But the strategy of inducting me into his gang failed drastically. One
gang member, Danni, kept alerting the group about the possibility that I might be a
police officer from the Secret Societies Branch.

“Your face looks familiar,” were four words Danni repeated a number of times
throughout our brief meeting. I could sense that, while I was talking to the members,
Danni was busy sending text messages to the other members of the group. “You cannot
blame us if we think that you are a SSB (Secret Societies Branch) police officer. You
want to do this kind of thing; you got to be prepared for the consequences that things
can happen to you. You are around us and things happen. Usually people doing
research will do it in a proper manner. Like go through the police or the Ministry. The
people there will give you access to the files of gang members,” he said. Ajat reassured
the rest that I was “OK,” since I had been introduced to him by a trusted friend. But I
could sense that he was getting increasingly uncomfortable, and so was I. I soon found
myself trying to convince the gang members of my sincerity by giving them a mini-
presentation on the merits of participant observation as a fieldwork methodology.

Much has been written over the past few decades with regard to the “Malay Problem,” a
topic which has been a feature of Singapore politics ever since the city-state became
independent. In fact, the “Malay Problem” discourse has been dominated and sustained
by the elites to promote a statist version of Singaporean modernity, one that
emphasizes hard work, loyalty, obedience, and the will to progress.1 In 2007, Malay
leaders in Singapore expressed concerns about the growing trend of gang activity
among Muslim youths. One recent report revealed that 34 percent of juvenile rioters
were Malays and this was cast as a moral panic given that the Malays only make up 15
percent of the Singaporean population. More Malays reportedly joined youth gangs in
comparison to other ethnic groups, such as members of the Chinese majority and the
Indian minority.2

Youth gangs in Singapore are usually called “secret societies.” The irony behind this
term is that these secret societies have been contributing overtly to the making of
modern Singapore for more than a century. They trace their origins to Chinese triads
that delved into prostitution, gambling, loan-sharking, and other activities that provided a
major source of revenue for the British colonial government. The symbiotic relationship
forged between the Chinese triads and the police has continued till today, as shown by

1
Kamaludeen Mohamed Nasir, “Rethinking the „Malay Problem‟ in Singapore: Image, rhetoric and social
realities,” Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 27, 2 (2007), pp. 309-318.
2
“Malay Youths Want to Erase Gang Past,” The New Paper, June 4, 2007.
Ganapathy and Lian.3 To deal with the problems of policing, headmen of the Chinese
gangs are “registered” with the Criminal Investigation Department and made to abide by
the “rules” imposed by the police. It can be concluded then that the postcolonial state
has taken on the same pragmatic approach practised by its colonial predecessor in the
management of the criminal underworld.

Because access to resources in both the legitimate and illegitimate markets are held by
the dominant Chinese majority, be it by triads or business conglomerates, Malay gang
members find themselves in a double bind. New Malay gangs such as the “Omega”
have been suppressed the state and practically blocked from engaging in illegal
activities controlled by Chinese gangs. Such “status frustration” is expressed by Ajat as
he recounts his experience of being in a Chinese gang. “When I actually think about the
hierarchy of the gang, it is actually a lot like the Singapore government. The top leaders
are all Chinese. This is the problem.”

To overcome or negotiate such constraints, Malay youths in Chinese gangs seek to

embrace the foreign yet powerful Chinese culture. This is demonstrated in the
gangspeak and the tattoos of these Malay youth. It is common to see “Chinese” motifs
and inscriptions, such as dragons and Chinese poetry, tattooed on the gang members‟
bodies. As one gang member explained, “The Chinese tattoos describe my rage, my
personality.” Most gang members are also conversant in Chinese dialects, such as
Hokkien and Cantonese, and often use them as cultural capital to enhance their status
in the gang hierarchy.

3
N. Ganapathy and Lian Kwen Fee, “Policing minority street corner gangs in Singapore: a view from the
street,” Policing and Society 12, 2 (2002), pp. 139-152.
 What is worthy of note is that in a modern country like Singapore where the path
towards becoming modern demands that each and every citizen subscribes to the
ideals set by the ruling regime, the manipulation of self-identities has become a means
by which Malay gangs ensure their survival. Ajat, as a case in point, sees himself as a
Malay gangster. But he is only able to do so within the ambit of his social circle. Placed
within the pecking order of the Sa La Kau, of his workplace and his neighborhood, he is
a modern Singaporean who understands the language of the majority and who uses the
resources of those in positions of authority against them for his own purposes.

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