GEORGE TOWN: A criminologist has sought to correct the belief that the tattoo of a gang symbol on a person’s body always indicates his membership in a criminal secret society.

In a comment on the recent acquittal of a book seller charged on suspicion that he belonged to the 04 Gang because a swastika was tattooed on his back, P Sundramoorthy of Universiti Sains Malaysia told FMT tattoos alone could not be used as proof of gang membership.

He said the assumption might have been correct decades ago, when gang members had tattoos to show allegiance to Chinese triads.

But tattoos were worn today more as body art than as displays of gang membership, he added.

He said gangsters had virtually stopped the practice of tattooing gang symbols on their bodies in order to prevent detection by law enforcers.

“They know they are doing something illegal,” he said. “Why would they willingly expose themselves by having gang tattoos?

“I’m certain many of the gang figureheads don’t have tattoos. A few lower rung members might have them in a show of bravado.

“Chinese gangs used to have tattoos of dragons, tigers and other symbols to denote ranking. But are we to assume those who have them in this day and age are members of secret societies?

“Today, tattooing is not part of the initiation into crime groups.”

Sundramoorthy called for an amendment to the Societies Act to remove a provision that assumes a person could be a member of an illegal society until proven otherwise.

He said it was unacceptable for police to target people with tattoos when they have resources at their disposal to track gangsters through many established ways.

The action could be seen as harassment and was certainly a waste of taxpayers’ money and a waste of time for the courts, he added.

This article first appeared on FMT.