Meeting Malaysia's Triads

In my attempt to find out more the triads, I made the ground rules clear from the start. I didn't want specifics, I didn't want details and I certainly didn't want names. I just wanted to know how the gangs worked. I have no idea what Ah Hing's real name is, but I do know that he is being groomed to take over as tai ko - big brother (a term triad members use for their bosses) - in a gang that operates in a small town in northern Malaysia. We had chosen a room in an old shop house in which to meet. Ah Hing looked like many working class Malaysian Chinese, with heavy jewellery, cheap shoes and spiky hair. His minder collected tattoos. "We do sell some ecstasy pills and that is how we make a living, me and my friends," he said. "We do take girls for prostitution, and this is much easier to do than ecstasy because usually the government will not bother us when we do this."

The triads and Malaysia's other criminal gangs dabble in any number of rackets. Some even smuggle opiated cough syrup. Dealing drugs in Malaysia carries the death penalty. Hangmen got a pay rise earlier this year - it is an issue the government takes seriously.

Adapted from BBC news, Article by Jonathan Kent, September 2005

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