IN FOCUS: These childhood friends joined a gang, but found 'real brotherhood' elsewhere

SINGAPORE: It started with just playing basketball with a group of older boys in the neighbourhood.

Soon after making these new friends, Dylan and Lucas spotted one of them in a TikTok video, displaying a secret society sign.

The two childhood pals had seen gang chants and brawls on their social media feeds before, and thought those videos were nothing but “funny”.

They never imagined being part of a secret society – yet this became reality in late 2023, when the older boys asked Dylan to join. He asked Lucas to follow him a few months later.

They were both aged 15 then.

Dylan and Lucas – whose names have been changed to protect their identities – have known each other since they were in primary school.

They have nearly identical hairstyles and the same blasé manner of speaking; a near-brotherly resemblance coming from long hours spent together rather than shared genes.

In the beginning, they hoped gang membership would bring protection. At the neighbourhood mall where they often hung out, other youths sometimes bothered them for seemingly no reason.

It was mostly horseplay – Dylan was once bitten on the neck, Lucas had wet tissues thrown at him. But as teenage boys it stung, and the feeling lingered.

“Maybe, people know you’re inside, then they wouldn’t come disturb you,” said Dylan, on the benefits of joining a gang.

Once they were inside, however, what followed were brushes with illegal pursuits like underaged drinking and smoking, and criminal schemes masquerading as business opportunities.

If teens like them stay on, it's for the perceived fulfillment of different needs such as easy money, camaraderie and a supposed way to grow into their own as young men.

Gang membership can offer “assurance that I’ve got my crowd with me, that in this life, I’m not so lonely, but I have my brothers to count on”, said social worker Kristine Lam, describing it as "that feeling of it’s us against the world".

Bringing the likes of Dylan and Lucas back from the brink in turn involves the gradual and delicate work of earning their trust, and becoming the people they can really count on.

“LAWLESSNESS” AND YOUTH CORRUPTION

When Dylan and Lucas talk about gang membership, they use lingo like being “in the shirt” or “under his hand”.

They cannot be open about it, because being a secret society member is illegal in Singapore.

Posting gang-related online content such as insignia, chants or gestures runs afoul of the law, even if the person putting it up is not a gang member.

To track the scale of the gang problem, the police use proxy indicators like violence and rioting offences that can be linked to secret societies.

The statistics for such offences have been stable over the past few years, indicating that the gang situation is “under control”, said Superintendent Ahmad Hassan, deputy head of the police's Secret Societies Branch.

In Singapore, suspected members of secret societies can be detained without trial for up to one year, under the Criminal Law (Temporary Provisions) Act.

Last year, eight teens aged 19 and below were detained under the Act, more than in 2023 and 2022. Another 57 people aged 20 to 29 were detained, also up from previous years.

There were a total of 100 detainees across all age groups in 2024. All of them were men and apart from one, all were detained for involvement in secret societies.

Secret societies are more loosely organised now, compared to the 1970s and 1980s, said SUPT Ahmad Hassan. This makes it easier to join a gang, as well as to leave or defect to another.

However, youth recruitment into gangs remains a particular concern, he said.

It is common for gang recruits to become acquainted with secret societies around the ages of 14 to 15, and join when they are 17 or 18, according to interviews with the police and social workers.

Minister of State for Home Affairs Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim has also described youth recruitment as particularly aggravating as it perpetuates “gangland lawlessness while corrupting" the young.

For Dylan and Lucas, this came in the form of the temptation to sell their SingPass details and become money mules for profit.

In Singapore, the minimum age to open an account at most banks is 16. Those who hand over control of accounts opened in their names play a major role in scams, by enabling the laundering of criminal proceeds.

Lucas said this was "low-risk" work that made it possible to earn S$500 (US$386) in less than a month.

“It’s like, you just sit there, you give the information, then you get free money.”

Dylan, on the other hand, has turned down multiple offers to set up a bank account for such ill-gotten profit.

“Even though it’s low (risk), there will still be a chance of getting caught,” he said.

WHATSAPP RECRUITMENT 

Ages 15 to 17 are the “sweet spot” for recruitment, said Ms Lam, the principal social worker and head of youth services at Care Corner Singapore.

That is when teens are considered mature enough not to draw unwanted attention while participating in gang activities; and at the same time legally not yet adults and hence subject to less severe penalties if caught by authorities.

Anecdotally, teens are usually introduced to gangs by existing members who “exploit” their friendships for recruitment.

“The youth being impressionable; they do not know the dangers,” said SUPT Ahmad Hassan. “To them, they may think that 'it’s out of friendship (that) I joined the gang'.”

Young members are asked to pay “gang fees”, and also put in harm’s way in fights and "settlement" talks, where they are used to show strength in numbers.

They are valuable for the gang’s continuity, and increasing youth membership numbers give headmen “some standing in the underworld”, added the superintendent.

These headmen have different strategies for recruitment, according to Ms Lam.

Some set up tests for prospective members to “prove” their obedience and loyalty. They might ask the youths to buy food and then not pay them back, or call them late at night to see if they will prioritise the gang and show up even when inconvenient.

Dylan and Lucas’ headman, who is in his early 20s, was charismatic and well-spoken. His reputation drew the teens in as they wanted to be associated with him, said Ms Lam.

The process of initiation itself can be so unremarkable that it takes the initiates by surprise, she added.

“So they were just having a conversation, then he will hand-shake them, then they’re (like) 'oh I’m in ah?' Then they get added into a WhatsApp group chat.

“To them, it’s like, 'I didn’t ask for this, but I don’t mind. I don’t really see the costs or the risks',” she said.

“They don’t really know what they are getting into.”

Former gang member Eddy – whose name has also been changed – was invited to join a gang in a similarly casual manner.

In 2021, when aged 18, a colleague in his 40s approached him at the furniture store where they had been working for a few months, and asked if he wanted to be in a gang.

“He saw the way I acted and he thought I was mature,” said Eddy. “I just said yes because it’s a new experience for me. I (didn't) see the harm of it, to be honest.”

He had already been exposed to gangs in his early teens, through schoolmates and friends. His uncles and his father, who was absent when Eddy was growing up, were also gang members.

Eddy had dropped out from polytechnic for almost a year when he was recruited, and was the sole breadwinner of his family at the time.

“There was nothing else going on in my life apart from working,” he told CNA in an interview facilitated by the Singapore Prison Service, while in jail for a sex offence.

After agreeing to join, he was immediately brought into the fold of a gang of four, where the man who recruited him was second-in-command.

Eddy’s mother was not surprised to learn he had joined a gang. “She just told me to take care of myself, don’t do anything stupid,” he said.

He stayed in the gang for three to four years, getting "perks" like free drugs and a cut of money from gang activities. He still maintained a job on the side to keep his “legal income”.

ISSUES AT HOME AND IN SCHOOL

The Care Corner non-profit runs a street outreach programme where social workers go to places where youths hang out, such as void decks, playgrounds, parks and malls.

This was how Ms Lam and other social workers met Dylan and Lucas, as well as their headman, in 2023.

When approaching a teen on the street, there is no surefire way of knowing if he is in a gang, until the social workers get to know him better.

But there are usually some indicators, like the time at which the youth is out (which could be late or during school hours), his lingo, familiarity with street hand signs and behaviours like vaping.

Another characteristic is when his primary caregiver is someone other than his own father or mother.

For Dylan and Lucas, “home is not really a place that they want to spend a lot of time in, so that’s why they really go out to the streets to find social connection”, said Ms Lam.

Lucas lives with his father and grandparents, and his primary caregiver is his grandmother. His parents are divorced, and he sees his mother occasionally.

He described his father as more like a brother to him. “He sometimes says, you do what you want,” said Lucas.

He recalled a time he had to be questioned by the police about his involvement in a bicycle theft. His father matter-of-factly passed on the message and went with him to the police station.

Parent and child spoke to the investigation officer separately. After that, Lucas’ father did not discipline him or say anything about the incident.

Dylan, meanwhile, lives with his mother and sister. His parents are divorced, and they have lost touch with his father.

Dylan used to be angry with his father for leaving, and once hoped he would get in touch again. But the teen now “cannot be bothered” to find out how his father is doing.

Dylan’s mother provides some structure and semblance of a family life, but is busy with other responsibilities like working and caring for his sister, and has not always been able to guide him, said Ms Lam.

Both boys’ families do not know of their gang involvement.

Lucas said he was terrified his grandmother would be angry and disappointed. Ditto for Dylan, who remains close to his mother and has told her everything except “what I do outside, those bad things, like smoking, drinking”.

At school, both boys sometimes got into trouble with their teachers and skipped classes to ride their bicycles together. Their grades have suffered.

Lucas said his teachers would “talk s**t" behind his back and “purposely try to disturb me for no reason”.

In both home and school settings, the boys were already labelled in certain ways by the adults in their lives. Out in society, they also tended to be seen as “rowdy” and “disruptive”, said Ms Lam.

So the gang became their practice ground for fulfilling what she called a “developmental need”.

“Everybody has to learn how to interact with others in society and figure out who they are, what values guide their decisions,” said the social worker.

"If it’s not school, if it’s not family – (where there's) more chance for error, less price to pay when you make a mistake – it will be then the society itself.”

The gang becomes “the next most structured environment” where youths can learn about social order and hierarchy, and “test out different personalities, different identities, different ways to engage, different ways to explain their point of view”, said Ms Lam.

A "MORE PEACEFUL" ALTERNATIVE

The social worker’s job is to provide an alternative to what gangs purport to offer.

As they are neither family members, teachers nor peers, the youth workers try to play the role of “trusting adults” and not disciplinarians, said Ms Lam.

She said teens usually know what kind of behaviour is wrong, or at least suspicious, but “choose not to think about it”. The social workers push back against this.

“Our standard conversation when it comes to illegal things and all that is, 'I think you know what people will usually say and what is right and wrong. But why do you still choose to do it?'” said Ms Lam.

Weekly group meals and activities are also organised to try and create meaningful experiences and core memories, so the youths feel a sense of belonging to a group other than their gang.

The teens may feel a need to perform aggression around other gang members, but with the youth workers, they learn they can be themselves and show sadness, fear and loneliness.

The hope is they will not be “hardened” by gang experiences and “be warmer people, and that whatever happens in a gang doesn’t become so attractive anymore”, said Ms Lam.

“How do we help them to be in touch with their feelings? And boys have many of those, even if we think they don’t,” she said.

The youths in turn test boundaries and size the social workers up as they “want to see whether we love them as who they are, that we are willing to accept them as who they are”, she said.

Dylan and Lucas said they came to see the social workers as friends. To Ms Lam, this meant the boys felt comfortable and safe enough around them.

In nudging them to leave the gang, Care Corner’s social workers were not pushy, said Dylan. "They say they won’t force (us) because they can’t control us,” he recalled.

What they did was question the true benefits of being in a gang, which Dylan and Lucas slowly realised they had no answer for.

The two boys were pragmatic when it came down to it: Their headman had been “useless” and failed to provide the protection they expected.

“If our side gets beaten up, we’re not even going to do anything. Say we will get back on them, like some sort of revenge, but then (there’s) nothing,” said Lucas.

But there was also an underlying recognition that life in a secret society was unsustainable. “Even if we join, sooner or later we’ll also leave, because (we) cannot stay inside forever,” said Lucas.

Not being in a gang meant “a more peaceful life”, he added. “If there’s any fight, you won’t get involved in it, and it’s way better.”

Eddy, the inmate, also left his gang half a year before starting his jail term, because he didn’t “see the benefit in the long run”, especially with a young daughter to care for.

“In the end, I will still get caught for whatever business I’m doing because it’s illegal in the first place. I will just have to sit inside (jail), wasting precious time which I could have spent with my family, earning money to support them.

“Enough is enough."

The work doesn’t end after youths leave a gang. When Dylan and Lucas were entered into Care Corner’s youth programme, they were disconnected from society, said Ms Lam.

“We build that bridge to help them experience how a healthy, positive life is, but we are just a buffer. How do we then reconnect them back to the real world?

“Through legal employment, through other friendships, other relationships beyond us. We can’t be the only prosocial adults that will love them,” she said.

CNA interviewed Dylan and Lucas shortly after they left their gang in late 2024, and the latter admitted he would consider rejoining a gang, for the money he could earn.

One thing holding him back was a job opportunity at a recreational business, which paid about S$1,000 a month and offered flexible hours.

This came out of a group outing with Care Corner’s social workers, who try to expose the youths to employment options beyond what their friends are doing - which may be limited to banquet service or warehouse packing, said Ms Lam.

Lucas and Dylan eventually did not apply for the job, but still got to practise drafting their resumes as part of the process.

Both boys have since received their N-Level results and successfully applied to the Institute of Technical Education courses of their choice, said Ms Lam.

She recalled to CNA that Dylan and Lucas’ headman's biggest pitch to them was that “at the end of the day, gang is about brotherhood”.

But to the social worker, it was clear that what Dylan and Lucas had in their gang was a “pretence of brotherhood”, and that the real thing was in front of them all along.

“What is real brotherhood? It is between these two boys ... that I have told them goes beyond the gang. So whether or not you have the gang, you will still have your brotherhood”.