Last week many of us saw the news on social media, a parang-wielding Malay youth robbed two women at a neighbourhood security post. Now the police are looking for a 17-year-old Malay boy. Like many, I am shell-shocked, seventeen is really young for a person to commit such a brazen crime.

Being Malay myself when I hear about crimes being perpetrated by ‘Malays’ I would brush it off by saying its actually being done by Indonesians. Somehow accepting that things have changed is very difficult, denial seems do just fine. One can’t help but wonder, how has it gotten this bad?

Unfortunately there is a bigger underlying issue we have here, which is a time bomb waiting to explode. While politicians on both sides of the divide accuse each other about misappropriations on the other side and the blame game on the state of the country, little has been addressed on the marginalisation of Malay youth issues, particularly men.

We tend to call them with many names, like Mat Rempit or Brader Despatch. These are synonymous with male Malay youths on a motorcycle. Most are on meagre salaries as lowly support staff or are unemployed.

More importantly they have this latent anger. They are angry at the biased education system that made them so. The rigid system that doesn’t allow for permutations of learning and testing methods which inadvertently turned off their desire to learn.

We have seen the social posts where every animal has its own skill set. The benchmark for a horse and a crocodile shouldn’t be climbing a tree or peeling a banana. These youths are neither stupid nor delinquent, our system has crunched, chewed them into this outcome. The problem that many of us face today is the by-product of an inflexible system, as well as our communal misgivings as a society.

From the teenager living in a kampung in Hulu Perak far away from the nearest town to the fisherman’s son in Kuala Besut to the young boy living in a PPR in Taman Medan, these youths can either be an asset or liability to everyone.

Today, we see that these individuals are being used a pawns for political parties for rallies. When given the opportunity they lash out without fearing the consequences. This could be a reason for the reluctance or inaction to improve their financial status. Why educate and improve their economy where those with influence can use them, ie with money?

The common belief is that the measure of a human is one’s intellect, but a rigged system ensuring them of failure is something we need to fix. As the economy grows, wealth, too, is abundant. There is more than enough for everyone. However, what we need to address is the equal distribution so that no community or levels of society are left out.

It is the responsible thing to do and it has to be done to rid ourselves of desperation-driven crimes or reducing it to an acceptable threshold. We can’t hide; we can’t run away, no amount of private security can curb the ever-increasing wave of crime. History has taught us that anger and angst stems from the belief when one is not being treated fairly.

Lamborghinis and bullock carts side by side

We do not want to be like Indonesia, the Philippines or India where the income disparity is too great. There Lamrboghinis and bullock carts drive side by side. There it seems that majority of the people are being oppressed by the few. This shouldn’t happen in Malaysia, we need to take care of our own, be it any part of our society.

Another question is why do they turn to crime? Isn’t there enough decent work for them? Are they just being picky in choosing work? Or are they just being plain lazy? It could very well be that not everyone can run at the same pace, some can swim better or some are great at climbing. Our economy has to cater and build on our communal strengths and work as one.

Much has been said on Malaysian unity and this is one of those times where we test the strength of our bond. We need to rid ourselves of cheap labour; the struggle for a higher minimum wage is something that needs to be addressed immediately. By improving the salary of blue collared workers, we will encourage more Malaysian to work in these areas. There will be ramifications but that’s nothing that we can’t face together.