Young people in Singapore carrying weapons as 'fashion accessory': Counsellor

New Paper

6 hours ago

Young people may be carrying weapons in public as a "fashion accessory", and brandishing them during heated arguments, a counsellor who works with at-risk youth flagged.
Mr Narasimman Tivasiha Mani, co-founder of the charity Impart, said he has seen an increasing number of young people carrying weapons as accessories in the last 10 years.
"Some of these weapons look quite nice, so (young people) buy them and carry them around to show off," he said.
Mr Narasimman, who said some of the weapons can be found on sale on platforms like Carousell, Telegram and Facebook, added that they would be used when these young people get into confrontations with others.
His comments come in the wake of a spate of incidents over the last year that saw young people linked to violent crimes.
In March, a 16-year-old was convicted of rioting with a deadly weapon after he brandished a flick knife at another teen during a group attack, which involved five others aged 13 to 17.
The teen, who has yet to be sentenced, had asked the victim if he wanted to "try the knife".
In September 2024, a 22-year-old man was charged with murder after a brawl in Kitchener Road. Three other men and two women were charged with rioting with a deadly weapon over the same incident.
In June 2024, a 19-year-old was charged with voluntarily causing hurt with a dangerous weapon. He had allegedly slashed a 20-year-old man with a chopper during a fight in Sembawang.
Mr Amalraj Thevar Manivannan, 27, is a friend of Mr Dhinessh Vasie, who died in the Kitchener Road brawl.
"He was so young and there was so much ahead for him," said Mr Amalraj of the 25-year-old victim.
A father of a three-month-old girl, Mr Amalraj said he is concerned that young people may be carrying weapons in public.
"My worry is when my daughter starts going to school. Will there be enough advocacy against violence and use of such weapons, or will things be worse?" he said.
Official figures from 2019 to 2023 show that the number of offenders aged 10 to below 21 involved in offences under the Corrosive and Explosive Substances and Offensive Weapons Act had climbed from 92 to 133.
Offences under the Corrosive and Explosive Substances and Offensive Weapons Act involved mainly youth who were seen with offensive weapons such as knives.
The Straits Times checked and found weapons like karambit knives sold on online platforms like Carousell and Shopee, many with intricate designs and videos demonstrating how they could be used.
The karambit knife is a scheduled weapon.
Possession of a scheduled weapon - which includes flick knives, gravity knives and knuckle dusters - without lawful authority can result in a jail term of up to five years, with a minimum of six strokes of the cane for a first conviction.
Mr Narasimman said the use of weapons in the gaming world can play a part in influencing a young person to carry a weapon in real life.
"It becomes a thing for them to have a weapon, because in the game, a weapon increases the chance of them winning the fight. It conditions them to think that violence is an option," he added.
MP for Ang Mo Kio GRC Darryl David had raised the issue in Parliament in September 2024 after a spate of rioting cases involving young people aged below 21 and deadly weapons.
Minister for Home Affairs K. Shanmugam said in a written reply that there was an average of 10 cases of rioting with deadly weapons every year between 2019 and 2023.
Slightly more than half involved offenders below 21 years of age.
Speaking with ST, Mr David said young people may be influenced by violent content they are watching on social media.
"When they have all this unfiltered content coming through without proper guidance, it could lead to acts of violence in real life.
"(The acts of violence) might also be due to the lack of adequate social and familial structures, and inability to manage anger, frustration and unhappiness," he said.
Mr Narasimman said young people lack emotional regulation because their brains are not fully developed.
"Their executive functioning skills (at that age) might be poor, so they tend to act based on their emotions. Impulsivity is a huge trait among young people who use weapons.
"They don't know what to do when they feel threatened, and their need to fight back is strong, so they resort to using weapons," he said, adding that childhood trauma and negative influences from friends might also contribute to their violent tendencies.
Mr David said educators and counsellors can help young people navigate the plethora of information available to them.
"As an educator, I believe that we've never had a generation exposed to so much information, with so little maturity.
"It's a very dangerous combination," said Mr David, who was formerly deputy director of Temasek Polytechnic's School of Design.
He said more can be done to show young people that there are other avenues to share their fears and anxieties.
"With youth, we need to help them learn how to deal with fear and anxiety, and prevent these emotions from manifesting in acts of violence. We can teach them to manage their feelings, and find healthy channels for release," he said.
When counselling at-risk youth, Mr Narasimman focuses on understanding their backgrounds and teaching them how to regulate their emotions.
These include equipping them with coping skills such as breathing exercises or clenching their fists to help them calm down in moments of anger.
As incidents of violence most commonly involve males, part of Mr Narasimman's work involves reshaping these young people's narratives of what it means to be a man.
He added: "Many of them have been told not to cry, because boys must be harder and stronger.
"But when these youth are not in touch with their emotions, they bottle it up, and it may eventually burst."