by A. Tsang
Published on: Mar 19, 2006
Topic:
Type: Opinions

I was continually sexually abused and physically attacked by a syndicate of a youth gang for a year in Hong Kong. It was the year 1990. The abuse was started because I reported that I was verbally abused by someone to a teacher. The syndicate avenged my report. I ended up seeing a psychiatrist and changing schools. Those bad memories still haunt me. I still remember those evil smiles on the faces of my attackers. They seemed to take pleasure from abusing me.

After 16 years, the situation seems not to have gone away but just gets worse. Yesterday on an online forum, a young male student from Hong Kong also reported that he was sexually abused and physically attacked by a syndicate of a youth gang. The student even showed his physical injuries, but the school told him there was a lack of evidence to rectify the problem.

You would be shocked to find out how soft Hong Kong schools and teachers are to youth gangs and bullies. The only thing tough in Hong Kong schools is their curriculum, which pressures students to memorize a lot of stuff within their heads within such a short time. Everyone is complaining about the school system in Hong Kong, spending a lot of time debating something besides addressing the problem of school violence.

I do not want to blame Hong Kong teachers. I think they can also be considered victims. Recently, a Hong Kong teacher's suicide rang the alarm bell that teachers in the country are over-stressed. There are enough battles (personal and within the work place) for Hong Kong teachers to fight. Without a good system backed-up by the police force, I don’t think Hong Kong teachers would dare to declare war on school violence and youth gangs. On the other hand, I see some Hong Kong school gangs that seem born to be intimidators. They know how to intimidate students and teachers not to report their devious acts to the police.

Many Hong Kong schools do not want to report these school violence acts to the Police because they do not want any bad news spreading within the commmunity that could damage their reputations. They think that they can tackle the problem by themselves, or they believe that they can cover-up it up. As I remember, Hong Kong Schools were divided into five bands (I don’t know if there has been any change to this system). “Band 1” refers to the best schools, and “Band 5” refers to the worst. I want to tell everyone that my attack in 1990 was within a Band 1 school. A Band 1 Hong Kong school is not immune from school violence.

It is a totally different story in Auckland, New Zealand. County Manukau (South Auckland) police have imposed an "always-arrest" policy for anyone caught carrying weapons or committing acts of violence, in the wake of escalating gang feuds. Within a few weeks, police have arrested more than 50 people for committing violent offences or carrying weapons. If Hong Kong police could perform this kind of action, Hong Kong School Violence would be history.

An Auckland high school teacher actually had a physical fight with a school gang and then called the police. The news reported the story, but the school had no shame about it, claiming they act strong and tough towards youth gangs. I wonder if any Hong Kong school has this kind of courage and bravery to perform this kind of feat?

Free pornography is spreading around on the net worldwide. There exists pornography portraying sexual & physical abuse, and promoting those kinds of acts as fun to perform. The story of the young male Hong Kong student sounded familiar somewhat to those acts depicted in free Japanese pornography. The Asian style of school violence is different from the American guns and bullets style. Asian bullies like to work within syndicates. The young student mentioned that there are young females involved in the bullying and sexual harassment. I see the trend of younger females starting to join these gangs, harassing and bullying other people as well.

I admire Oprah Winfrey’s courage to speak up about how she was sexually molested during her adolescent. As she has now become a media celebrity in US, she is setting up a reward for who can catch the child molester. Unfortunately, I am not as influential as her, but don’t forget that our child are our future. If Hong Kong schools cannot provide a safe environment for students to learn and study, is there any future for the city?

Finally, if anyone is intimidated by young gangsters, please stand strong together, fight the battle, and report their evil acts to the police as well as the local media. Justice needs to prevail. Your silence means you are approving their acts.

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