Asian Beacon

COVER STORY
These two stories were first published in Care Contact, a publication of
Malaysian Care which is published four times a year. Reprinted with permission.
GANGSTERISM’S
GOOD VALUES
I
stopped schooling and left my Family bond
family when I was 12 years old as We valued “family” and when any of our
I couldn’t bear seeing my parents friends were imprisoned or had to go
struggle daily for money to put food into hiding, we would do whatever was
on the table and to bring up my four necessary to care for their families. We
siblings and me. I decided to ‘help’ them were filial and respectful to the families of
reduce their burden by leaving home. the gang, especially the wives or girlfriends
by Jonah Chan
At this tender age, I got involved in of gang members. We would make sure
a Chinese triad, “Loong Foo Tong” (The that they were not disturbed or bothered.
Dragon Tiger Gang). I believed that this Our gang believed and held on to an
triad was honourable and would protect old Cantonese saying: “Only in times of
and care for me. Eventually, I learnt the difficulty and suffering that we see true
truth that the gang was involved in criminal love and friendship”. We believed that
activities in the Jalan Raja Laut and Jalan courage was evident only in times of
Chow Kit areas.
trouble. We were faithful to our oaths and
I have since left the gang and am beliefs. We were faithful to our gang. We
“transformed”. However, I learned some held on to the principles of protecting our
positive values from gangsterism which I community from the scourge of drugs or
think that God would want us to apply in the evil influences of the world, which may
our lives. These attributes include courage, sound surprising to some.
faithfulness and sacrifice to the point of Unfortunately, drugs got into the gang
being willing to lay down our lives for from prison, and that was the beginning of
other gang members and their families. the end of the gang and its principles.
New family
Released from prison in 1991,
Malaysian Care, through their
Crisis Centre in Klang, took me
in with unconditional love and
took care of my needs. I started to
learn to read the Bible and sought
to know this God who sacrificed
his life for me, and loved me
when I was a sinner. These things
rang true to me for I understood
sacrifice and faithfulness in the
midst of difficulties.
“But God demonstrates his own
love for us in this: While we were
still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Romans 5:8
“Greater love has no one than
this: that he lay down his life for his
friends.” John 15:13
Through the unconditional
yet practical love that I
experienced during my times of
difficulty, I learnt about the God of the
Bible and His love for me. Just like what
I had learned from gangsterism, true love
is an action, and faith is about acting
according to God’s principles.
I am now a community worker of
Malaysian Care – Prison, Drugs & AIDS
services. My desire and prayer is to be
willing to sacrifice for the love of God
through serving the people who come
from all walks of life, including those of
my background.
“This is how we know what love is:
Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we
ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.”
1 John 3:16
Published in Care Contact June –
August 2013
16 a s i a n b e a c o n