By Shree Ann Mathavan

BLAME it on the stresses of society or poor upbringing, but Singapore's young are getting more angry and violent.

They may be teenagers or in their early 20s, but they are brimming with so much anger that they are quick to hit.

They bully, they batter, they hammer. They have no qualms harming others.

A recent case in point: Three siblings, aged 18, 20 and 25, ganged up to torture their Indonesian maid, Ms Badingah.

They forcibly extracted the maid's teeth, poured boiling wax on her head and caned her, as the courts heard earlier this month.

And there was also the instance of the childcare centre teacher, 25, who smeared the mouth of a four-year-old boy under her care with chilli padi.

Ironically, she did it because he was allegedly violent - throwing something at her son.

The incident left the teacher's victim traumatised, with nightmares for months.

Going by police statistics, more youngsters aged between 7 and 19 are joining a brutal bunch club.

A police spokesman noted that 'due to the need to belong to a group, youths in this impressionable age are susceptible to succumb to negative peer pressure influence'.

The question is: Could these crimes have been prevented if these teenagers had received help when they were younger?

Several counsellors The New Paper spoke to confirmed that they have seen more angry young people in the past few years.

Ms Sheena Jebal, 35, founder of NuLife Care and Counselling Centre said eight out of 10 young people she counsels are angry.

She said: 'They raise their voices, bang the table, shout and scream when they talk to you. They have a lot of anger in them.'

Ten years ago, those in this age group tended to be more subdued and less inclined to express themselves violently, she said.

One 18-year-old girl she recently counselled had 'pushed her mother down at Bishan interchange and kicked and spat at her'.

This is not uncommon for troubled kids who try to browbeat their parents into giving them what they want.

Tantrums

She said parents would often tell her about their kids throwing tantrums, breaking objects at home, ramming their fists into walls and even literally arm-twisting their parents if they don't get their way.

Mr Danny Ng, a consultant psychologist at Raffles Hospital, also felt that the number of such angry youngsters has increased.

'My dealings with schools indicate that more teens are hauled up for violent acts of bullying and intimidation,' he said.

And they generally don't feel that they have committed any wrong.

He brought up the example of a 14-year-old boy in a secondary school who snatched a school mate's iPod and walked off with it.

When confronted, he smashed the iPod.

Said Mr Ng: 'When disciplined by the principal, the boy said he hadn't committed any offence, as he was ridding the school of snobs.

'It shows a lack of awareness and insight, resulting from poor moral and social education.'

Mr Charles Lee, a senior counsellor in his early 50s, blames the trend mostly on a lack parental supervision and family guidance.

He added: 'It could also be that parents are themselves showing violent behaviour.'

Associate Professor Ngiam Tee Liang, from the National University of Singapore's social work department felt the causes tend to be 'very complex and hard to generalise'.

In general young people who react in anger have low self-esteem.

Prof Ngiam said this trend was not exclusive to Singapore youth and there have been violent examples all over the world.

In June this year, Japanese Tomohiro Kato, 25, a car worker, went on a bloody rampage, randomly killing seven and injuring 10 others in Tokyo.

Such incidents are in part a result of the urban environment in which people live in close proximity, with a greater chance of social friction.

Patience helps

WHAT can help these angry young people?

Ms Wong Mei Yin, a registered psychologist and and advisor at Shan You Counselling Centre, said that getting them to open up is hard.

'You just have to show a great amount of patience,' she said.

Psychologist Daniel Koh of Insights-Tse, who is running several upcoming workshops for parents in managing anger in their kids, said the key to dealing with such behaviour is listening.

'This would give the child a sense of fairness as you are not just jumping to conclusions or generalising things,' he said.

He advised parents to spend time with their children, rather than simply buy them material things.

Said Mr Koh: 'This builds good rapport and would help achieve an open, honest relationship with the child.'

This article was first published in The New Paper on 26 Oct 2008.