Secret societies a cover for crime

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34048, 12 January 1976, Page 16

Secret societies a cover for crime

I ‘NZ P A .-Reuter—Copyright) SINGAPORE. Singapore detectives, acting on a tip-off, recently went at night to the eighth floor of an apartment block in a city i suburb and made some I surprising discoveries. Inside, they found 15 members — including a 13-, year-old girl—of a new secret society, which had just taken initiation vows of loyalty egd silence before embarking on I a campaign of housebreak-1 ing. The police also seized an. assortment of gangland weapons and housebreaking) implements, along with an| altar with Chinese idols, a 'half-empty bottle of brandy,' and other articles used for) The initiation ceremonies. ) Police investigations re- J ivealed that the gang has held the ceremonies to coincide with the ninth moon of the Chinese lunar calendar. Mantle The raid illustrated a special problem faced by the Singapore police — coping I with gangs whose activities are given a mantle of apparent spiritual and traditional respectability by resorting to )the age-old Chinese practice of secret societies.

, The cult and growth of secret societies played an important role in China’s history. Experts believe that the 1 criminal societies among i Chinese immigrants to Malaya and Singapore were : developed from the old ' Heaven and Earth Society

I which had been active in 'China since 1674. The first Chinese immigrants to Singapore banded themselves into groups, and traditional rivalries soon developed into gang wars. Gang disputes have been going on since the turn of the century and still flare up from time to time in modem Singapore.

The gangsters of today usually clash over protection rights in different areas, such as market zones, street stalls and even newspaper distribution. One racket which the authorities recently cracked down on involved the washing of cars outside Singapore’s numerous high-rise apartment blocks. Residents were approached by “car washers,’’ who offered to clean their vehicles every morning for a certain sum. Those who refused, found their car tyres let down, paintwork scratched or windshield wipers bent. Now the authorities have come up with a clever solution. They have licensed the “car washers,” and by making them official, and extracting licence fees from them, are on the way to crushing that particular racket. Prostitutes The wealthier and betterorganised secret societies are involved in drug trafficking and vice, especially the importing of prostitutes from neighbouring countries such as Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia. The Straits Times newspaper of Singapore recently reported a racket in which virgin girls were being brought in for wealthy businessmen and fetching $966 to $l6lO per week for a stay with the rich client.

The newspaper said the girls then move into brothels —which are officially banned in Singapore, although most visiting seamen only have to ask a taxi-driver, or his mates, to discover where to go. As part of its battle against the secret societies, the Singapore police force has a special division within its criminal investigation department. / Loyalty banners Recently the police unearthed banners 14 metres long depicting a pact of loyalty and friendship between two secret societies in Singapore. Chinese characters on the banners gave the names of the two gangs — the Ang Meng Ton Triad Society, operating on the eastern outskirts of the city, and the Gi Hup Hue Triad Society, operating in a western district. The banners carried the names of the chief fighters of the gangs and a painting showing secret society initiating ceremony in which the words “loyalty to fellow members” was being painted on a gangster’s bare back by a woman with a brush.