Teenage Punks And Hip-hoppers Link To New Violent Wave In Gadong
By Azlan Othman

Bandar Seri Begawan - Punk is far from dead. No matter how much people preach the virtues of civilised behaviour, a rebirth of punk culture and young hip-hoppers brawling and causing a nuisance to the public on commercial premises has caused concern.

It's observed to be associated with a new violent wave among some local teenagers.

Students loitering at shopping malls, cyber cafes after school until late also contributes to enhancing this image.

This matter of moral concern has begun to worry various segments of elders ranging from parents to religious authorities and even officials at the Ministry of Education.

Around the bustling Gadong area, teenagers have been spotted with hair dyed in punk style with one even claiming to be the leader of a punk group in Brunei.

Observers say some shops too pander to this punk culture by selling T-shirts to local teens that do not even know what punk means.

Then there are the troublemakers. One of the popular shopping complexes in Gadong came into focus recently with a brawl outside a favourite shopping spot.

The commotion occurred around 10pm on Wednesday night whereby alleged drunken youths caused injury to two security personnel and hit the owner of one of the outlets.

"Being drunk, the youths caused a disturbance in public by yelling. The security personnel who tried to shut him up instead got hit at the back of his head by a hard object," eyewitnesses said.

"Such situations continued to happen from time to time at premises where the youth congregated.

It usually happened during weekends when teenagers started loafing around the area. If police patrol the area, these troublemakers would disperse for a while and start to re-group again after the police leave," they said.

It was learnt that four youths involved in the brawl attack were questioned. Meanwhile, a concerned Manager questioned the extent to which the role of the security personnel was limited and called for more authority besides catching suspects and bringing them before the law.

It was only about two months ago that building owners and the Royal Brunei Police Force held a dialogue session at which one of the issues raised was on brawl attacks, disturbances as well as the safety situation at the basement car park.

During the session, a security manager of a building in Gadong highlighted the need for security personnel to be given more power, given the authority to use batons and handcuffs as means to protect themselves.

He also called for prompt action by the police to tackle such undesirable activities.

Asked about Wednesday night's incident, he said, the police and the building managers should once again sit together to discuss this matter to avoid future undesirable activities before it even gets worse especially as it is a public place.

Meanwhile, members of the concerned public called for a police post to be stationed around the Gadong commercial premises just like the post found near the Taman Sir Muda Omar Ali Saifuddien in the capital. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

Click Here To Have Your Say On This Story

Brudirect.com News