Ondris Pui

There is this issue in keeping youth focused and fully utilising their energy for the benefit of all. What happens when the so called proper "instructions on how to be a good citizen" is not applicable anymore as years goes by. Uniformed organization, sports activities, crafts and arts, music and religious teachings are common ways in diverting youth energy. Molding them into a person of morale fit for the society. It's a tough bargain to offer today when the world have so much more interesting things to offer. Parents of these youth will find it difficult to accept these new things that are out of their scope. Are these caretakers willing to listen and compromise with the new world that their children are exposed to or are they afraid of being lenient and losing their jobs as authoritative parents. There is also the fear of what others would say in an Asian gossip society. The Chinese Hokkien dialect for the word bo ka si and the Malay word kurang ajar (child with no proper guidance from parents) itself can tell that Malaysia is a society that likes to mind other people's business.

In the midst of finding what is important in their life. The entertainment media has a strong influence in taking over the attention of youths with a mind that is always ready for fun and excitement. Something out of the ordinary and something out of the daily routine. Clothes for example in a tropical climate of minimum 27 - 35 degrees Celsius across the year could be considered unexciting for youths. In comparison to a country that have 4 seasons, clothes in your wardrobe change according to season and so does fashion. You might be surprise to see a teenager on the streets wearing high leather boots, beanie, a jumper with a hood and occasionally synthetic fur in tropical paradise. Under weather conditions these are not practical but for the youths the sense of being different and wanting to get attention is far more important. They might have already gotten use to the heat with these winter clothes and are not bothered with the sweat and stench. These youth would also act and speak like an a foreigner in which is totally not from their roots and culture. It would be really helpful to have local media and especially TV programmes that depicts local values and being cool at the same time. The Indians have such example of a movie character which that look upon as a role model and have also reached the level as savior. Rajanikanth's Official Website

These Youth normally hang around in groups. When there are in groups, they play, work and act in groups giving them the strength and making them fearless in anything that they want to do. These strength guided in the correct channel would result in an energy fully utilized and appreciated. Without guidance and direction, these energy would in turn released to the society as waste. Without attention and proper guidance, these youth would form their own rules and regulation in wanting to be heard and making their own path comfortable. This will result in gangs and rules that the society will difficulties in controlling. Problems like this do not happen in small towns or rural areas where there is less excitement and pace of life is slow. It's happening in cities like London.

"Serious youth violence is the biggest problem we have today in London - with the possible exception of terrorism,"

Sydney Morning Herald

There has a got to be a place for these youth to release their energy or an organization that could handle this situation. At the moment this problem has only been raised in 2006 in the local papers but changes are not seen. Maybe, the local town authorities in Kuching are having difficulties in handling this situation. The Malaysian government as a whole have taken action by implementing activities and ideas such as the Rakan Muda programme and the National Service. Khidmat Negara Website. It's however puzzling because we have not heard of Rakan Muda and on offical Rakan Muda website recently.

What ever happened to football fields, badminton courts, swimming pools, bowling alleys and movies? The possibilities are endless. This may not apply to youth today where choices of fun and excitement come in many shapes and sizes. At times going for a simple swim or a game of bowling will incur the use of pocket money. In the recent years, electronic communication and entertainment devices have also sunk in as a necessity for these youths esepcially in places like Japan where mobile phone as a replacement of social contacts in youths of Japan

The abuse of alcohol and drugs are quite a rampant among youths that seek a higher level of thrill or maybe there are seeking for a peace of mind because problems at home. A bit of reading on drugs can be read here. It could be also be poverty violence in disguise. A walk on a Sunday afternoon in the town of Kuching can tell you the story.


A youth hangs out at the entrance of a cinema.


This youth, intoxicated can only rest and not bothered about his surroundings.


He changes his location when rain comes but just to avoid from getting wet.


His friends later tries to wake him up but is carried to another location.


Not being able to stand on his two feet. He gets back to his resting position on the stairs.

The sketch shows the attempt plan of using ad-hoc data gathering in return recycle information to achieve a snowball effect. Raw Data based on specially designed questionnaire are gathered.
Once this information is gathered it acts as a module that could be used for other related research. As more independent research is done in a parallel way. The interaction and entanglement of other information will make a desired research topic bigger. Volume is however important for data gathering, as it gives a more accurate results. This attempt tries to introduce ad hoc data gathering among independent researchers in comparison to solid organization data gathering methods.