The government has vowed to uproot gangsterism in schools. An hour after he was sworn in, Education Minister Hishammuddin Hussein announced the setting up of a task force to arrest the problem. A brilliant 16-year-old student of a religious school in Negeri Sembilan, had died after he was beaten up by his schoolmates.

Strange, it was only seven months ago that the then Education Minister Musa Mohamad has vowed the same. He too had announced that his ministry would set up a similar task force to monitor the problem of gangsterism among students, especially those staying in government school hostels ( Utusan Malaysia ).

In fact, Musa was as furious as Hishammuddin after he was told that some 20 students of Sekolah Tuanku Abdul Rahman in Ipoh, had formed a so-called "high council" to carry out gangsterism activities, and when he had discovered that similar activities were detected at the Malay College Kuala Kangsar.

Hishammuddin has also very dramatically declared: "I want gangsterism among students to be contained and eliminated at its root immediately" ( Star , March 31, 2004). If he is really serious about striking the problem at its root, he should begin with some personal soul searching.

Surely he would remember the Umno Youth "gang" whose members were fined in court for causing a riot at the Second Asia-Pacific Conference on East Timor (Apcet II) held legally and in a hotel in Kuala Lumpur in 1996. They had broken down the door to the meeting room, ransacked the room, went on a rampage and assaulted, threatened, and verbally abused the participants.

The then Umno Youth deputy chief, who happened to be Hishammuddin Hussein, told the newspapers that the gangster-like incident was "justified". He even went on to declare: "We are proud of their bravery and maturity" - for breaking the law?

Four years later (2000), with Hishammuddin at the helm, Umno Youth went on a unruly and gangsterish spree again. This time it was at the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall where they protested against the Malaysian Chinese Organisation Elections Appeals Committee (Suqiu) in a most uncivil behaviour.

The Umno Youth deputy leader, Abdul Aziz Sheikh Fadzir rudely and arrogantly refused the repeated invitations of Suqiu officials for a dialogue and reporters and photographers were manhandled and abused in the demonstration.

By remaining silent, Hishammuddin gave his consent to the gangsterish event. He distanced himself from his deputy when there were indications that the Umno top leadership was not too happy with what had taken place.

If Hishammuddin wants to get to the root of the problem of gangsterism he should start from the top. He should ask the assistance of his cabinet colleague Samy Vellu who had, apart from summoning a study on the problem of gangsterism amongst Indians, included in his entourage during the last two general elections - a group of goondas.

During the November 1999 general elections, the BA candidate Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj who challenged Samy in Sungai Siput had to lodge several police reports after about 15 gangsters invaded his operations room and threatened his election helpers, with broken bottles, to "chop those who opposed Samy". It is not known whether the gangsters were part of the study.

It appears that even the MCA has a rich history of the "samseng" culture. Last year, MCA Youth leader, Ong Tee Keat, made the shocking revelation of triad infiltration and influence in top MCA circles.

He personally submitted two names to the then Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to back up his public allegation. This was followed by three police reports from MCA Team B in Bukit Mertajam, Klang and Kuala Lumpur.

What added credence to Ong Tee Keat's claim was the questionable relationship between MCA's president Ong Ka Ting with a MCA branch leader who was later alleged to be a triad leader. Last year, the MCA Gurney Drive branch chief in Penang, Ong King Ee, who was better known as 'Jackie Chan' was arrested by police for alleged secret society activities, under the Emergency Ordinance but later received a pardon and was released ( Sun , April 5, 2004).

In spite of the recent arrest of a top-ranking Labuan MCA official by police, the second involving a party leader during the on-going nationwide crackdown of illegal gaming and vice-syndicates ( Sun , April 5, 2004), Ka Ting has said that the MCA will not go out of its way to screen its members for evidence of a criminal background or triad involvement.

Perhaps there is no stronger source of influence of the bullying culture that is synonymous with gangsterism than the Royal Malaysian Police Force. One can imagine the kind of message sent to the young when a former top cop of the nation turned thug one night and bullied and brutalise a blind-folded and handcuffed Anwar Ibrahim in the police sanctuary of Bukit Aman and left him brutally wounded for several days.

When the young watch the police point and poke their weapons, pounce on, push and punch, pummel and puncture, pulverise and reduce to a pulp - innocent people in a peaceful assembly; when they see them parading their wounded "prey" and packing them into trucks, they get a sense of the kind of power and domination that comes with such violence... which they emulate in a gang.

The young learn from the adult world. It would be a waste of time and a lost battle if the powers-that-be were to only focus on gangsterism in schools. It cannot be denied that gangsterism is rife in our society today. It is an open secret that adults in the business/professional world employ gangsters to evict, to warn, to injure and maim and even to kill for one reason or other.

The double-standards and the hypocrisy of the country's adult world, and especially that of our politicians on this issue must stop... or we will be left waiting for another education minister to set up another task force and to wax lyrical on putting a stop to gangsterism in schools.