A recent local newspaper carried an article concerning street dance, which came as an eye opener to most naïve Malaysians. Many not even having heard of the word ‘shuffling’ before, the report served as an insight into the lives of the younger, for it revealed their social behaviour and how easily youths of today are getting influenced by potent trends.

Malaysian youths are being absorbed into trends such as shuffling, rock, black metal and punk, which in spite of being against Islamic teachings, practices and norms, seem to be catching on rapidly among the Malays even. 

A particular area in Kuala Lumpur city known as Bukit Bintang happens to be the hotspot where followers of this new age culture gather in the name of dance, especially on weekends. This new craze among youths is known as shuffle, a dance form closely related to the popular hip-hop. Such gatherings also include the presence of rockers, another culture that was brought about by music. However healthy and clean these activities are deemed to be, it is a fact that these group’s gathering over the purpose of dance often include other immoral acts, making it a social problem.

In dance-offs organized by shuffle dancers and rockers at Bukit Bintang, a ritual has formed where the person who looses over his opponent removes his shirt, which carries the group logo, and has it burnt by the winning individual. Many of the youths who partake in such events are seen with masks covering their faces, purportedly to conceal their identities. It was reported that such gathering do not only occur in Bukit Bintang, but in other areas like Taman Titiwangsa too. It would not be uncommon to link youths involved in these punk cultures with sex, drugs, alcohol, vandalism and several other social problems being faced by Malaysia.

The report in the local newspaper also provided insights into the involvement of these youths in gangsterism. Despite a police booth just meters from their usual gathering ground and police personnel patrolling the area, youths show no fear and no change in their troubling attitude. More disturbingly, police authorities on duty admit these youths get into fights but claim that nothing can be done as police in the area lack in numbers compared to the large crowd of gatherers.

Another local newspaper on 11^th December 2005 reported the existence of various punk groups, such as Punk Rock, Hardcore Punk, Chaos Punk, Pop Punk, Punk Hop, Skaters Punk and Metal Punk, with a total of 5000 to 6000 followers in the Klang Valley alone. This figure does not include punk culture followers in other states like Melaka and Kelantan, where if taken into account the total could amount to 10,000 youths. The mentioned newspaper also reported that youths who gathered over such cultures consumed alcohol and threw bottles by the streets and as they wished, thus creating havoc in the area.

The nation was once shocked to learn of activities of certain punk groups, for example the sacrificing and beheading of a black goat. The head is then carried into the jungle where satan worshipping is performed and the burning of the holy book, Al Quran, is carried out.

In recent times, the intensity of the punk culture and the involvement of youths in them have increased drastically, reaching a point now where it disrupts the safety of the general public. The question remains, why have actions not been taken against the mass gathering and immoral activities of punk groups which take place every weekend as mentioned in the newspaper?

The very occurance of such social issues among the younger generation is a clear indication that family, as an influential aspect in forming mindsets of maturing youths, is not playing its part. A close knit family is able to positively influence the behaviours and attitudes of young growing children, in turn nurturing individuals who can contribute positively to the benefit of religion, race and the nation. Yet, the recent hype over modernization has jeopardized the closeness and bond between member of a family. It is a fact that families living in cities find it more difficult to be involved in family related activities, as each parent and working member are too busy earning. Young children are left unattended and their behaviours are gone unnoticed, not only creating a void between the family but also allowing for formation of negative thoughts and attitudes.

With regards to this, the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development has implemented a program titled ‘One Family One Councilor’ which was launched by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi recently. This program aims to act as catalyst in order to build a society with strong family bonds and moral values, as well as reduce tragedies that occur due to family crisis. It is a fact that development within the family should be paid importance to, as the nation would be affected if this problem is not addressed, for strong families serve as role models to a better society.

The National Social Policy was set up in order to adopt qualitative aspects such as social maturity, moral values, intellectual strength and culture in addressing social issues. Yet, till date, has this policy been effective in serving as means for the formation of a mature and developed society, especially from the social aspect?

Government authorities should question the existence of disturbed, rebellious youths and study laws used in other countries, mainly concerning its relevance to problems faced in Malaysia . For example, the Anti Social Behaviour Act 2003, Britain . Although this act does not focus on the younger generation, yet in Britain there is a realization that most anti social behavious are expressed by children and youths.

As one of the approaches, those involved in anti social behaviours are to voluntarily sign a written agreement with the police, promising to better himself. If found to have gone against the agreement, the accused would be charged under the Social Behaviour Act. This act also serves to protect society from activities that could be disruptive.. This includes forbidding the accused from entering a specified area for up to two years.

This act also involves the co-operation of parents, them being one of the parties whose help is necessary in curbing social problems. The strategies are as follows:

* Parental contract – Parents consent voluntarily towards schools disciplining their children. Cases such as playing truant are relevant to this.

* Parental order – Court order to parents whose children are involved in anti social activities, ordering them to attend parental courses and look into their child’s attendance. Hefty fines if order is disregarded.

* Penalty notice – Local authority, school and police are able to press charges against parents whose children play truant.. Action taken if fine is not settled.

If implemented in the right manner, this formula could turn out to be the basis of a society that consists of happy and peaceful families, in line with the concept ‘home is where the heart is’.  – 24 APRIL 2008

CAP applauds the Ministry of Health for the announcement to go ahead with the pilot projects to separate prescribing and dispensing rights. CAP has been highlighting this issue for the past 20 years at least.  

Previously, when doctors were accorded the legal right to dispense, there were very few pharmacists or pharmacies in the country. However, this is no longer the case.   

A policyholder was overcharged by RM3,500 in interest by one of the country’s leading insurance company. Is his case just the tip of the iceberg?

Recently, Mr. B.C.Tan (not his real name) took a good look at his insurance policy and discovered that whilst the contract states that the interest on his automatic premium loan is fixed at 6% per annum, the company was charging him between 7 to 8.3% per annum for the last seven years.

Can a housing loan be considered “Islamic” when  the customer is asked to pay half a million even though the bank only released RM10, 000 to the developer? That is why Islamic housing loans should be based on the musharakah mutanaqisah (MM) concept instead of the popular  al-bay bithaman ajil (BBA).

Organic agriculture is defined as "a holistic food production management system, which promotes and enhances agro-ecosystem health, including biodiversity, biological cycles and soil biological activity. It emphasizes the use of management practices in preference to the use of off-farm inputs, taking into account that regional conditions require locally adapted systems. This is accomplished by using, where possible, agronomic, biological and mechanical methods, as opposed to using synthetic materials, to fulfill any specific function within the system." (FAO/WHO Codex  Alimentarius Commission). 

CAP is extremely concerned at the recent press letter from a member of the public complaining that a trader in a pasar tani in Larkin, Johor Baru used plastic in the oil that he was using for preparing chips. This was followed by an earlier press report of a trader using plastics in oil when frying goreng pisang in order to keep them crispy. 

These cases are hot on the heels of a press report where a factory in Kepala Batas was closed down for violating various health regulations including using recycled oil for cooking and storing cooking oil in unhygienic recycled plastic containers.  

The Ministry of Domestic Trade and  Consumer Affairs’ reluctance to act against errant timeshare holiday companies and the possibility that it may exempt the companies from the Direct Selling Act 1993 (DSA), is totally unacceptable to consumers. 

We had brought to the Ministry attention, a certain timeshare company that had broken the law when it collected money from consumers upon signing of the contract.