Violence Prevention Look Beyond Simplistic Solutions

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Over the past four years, Southeast Asia has witnessed troubling incidents of youth violence. In October 2023, a 14-year-old opened fire at the Siam Paragon mall in Bangkok, killing three people.
Most recently, on Oct 14, a 14-year-old brought combat knives to school in Bandar Utama and fatally attacked a fellow student. These incidents reveal striking similarities: young perpetrators, targeting of public or educational spaces, and particular attention to appearance, method, and weaponry.
This is not a coincidence. Contemporary research suggests these incidents may reflect an emerging regional pattern within a global continuum of violence, connected to how some young males form their identities online.
These digital environments can shape worldviews, understandings of masculinity, and responses to social isolation or perceived rejection.
Moving beyond knee-jerk responses
In the wake of the Bandar Utama stabbing, Malaysian communities are searching for answers: What could we have done? How do we protect our children? These questions require understanding a pattern that may be new to Malaysia but is well-documented globally.
The answer is not about restricting video games, banning pop culture materials, punitive measures at school, or hyper-surveillance. It is about building coordinated community responses that recognise genuine warning signs, provide support to students in crisis, and create clear pathways for intervention before tragedy occurs.
Beyond the video game moral panic
Predictably, the immediate response to the tragedy was blaming violent video games. A community of parents online developed a long list they believed should be banned. But this kind of response may serve as a band-aid without addressing the underlying problem.
The accused carried a note that has been photographed and widely circulated online. While some dismissed it as insignificant, violence researchers take such communications seriously. They are classified as manifestos when they explain actions and reference other attacks.
He explicitly cited four significant US school shootings and a very niche film about school shootings made in 2003. Notably absent was any mention of video game titles. Instead, he listed films and anime, suggesting he may have been shaped more by other media and online discussions surrounding them.
Recognising what actually influenced him, rather than what we assume influenced him, is essential for developing effective prevention strategies.
A regional pattern emerging
What likely shaped this young person was exposure to the school shootings he had researched and the narratives surrounding them. What we are witnessing is what researchers call “memetic violence”, a term describing acts inspired by and copying well-documented incidents like the Columbine and Parkland school shootings.
The word “memetic” refers to how ideas, behaviours, and cultural patterns spread from person to person, much like internet memes. In this context, violent acts become templates that vulnerable individuals replicate and adapt.
Since 2020, Singapore’s Internal Security Department has detained 12 youths who were influenced by online content glorifying violence and planned attacks using easily accessible weapons like bladed instruments. All share common elements: young males who spent extensive time in digital spaces and showed intent to emulate high-profile mass casualty events.
Research suggests certain internet-based communities create echo chambers where aggression is discussed and glorified, potentially normalising harmful behaviour for vulnerable individuals.
We have been preparing for religiously motivated attacks, but the pattern seems to be shifting towards isolated individuals drawn to spaces that glorify violence, operating within environments where misogyny and victim-blaming are normalised.
This makes the problem particularly difficult to address because current content moderation policies tend to focus on religious extremist discussions, often missing content that legitimises violence against women.
Why detection is difficult
We cannot fully expect parents to detect these threats on their own. Many of these youths are quiet, withdrawn, or isolated, going through what appear to be typical teenage phases. The youth accused in the Bandar Utama case was reportedly undergoing counselling for academic difficulties, but there was no indication of the violent thoughts he was developing.
What distinguishes concerning patterns from normal teenage behaviour is often sudden or drastic changes. Research on school attackers indicates that the majority exhibited warning signs before their assaults, including depression, mood swings, significant behavioural changes, and escalating anger.
Studies show over 80 percent displayed signs of crisis beforehand, yet these signals were frequently dismissed as typical adolescent difficulties. Without established threat assessment frameworks and training, parents, teachers, and peers may struggle to recognise when ordinary teenage struggles cross into something more serious.
This is especially true when schools and families are operating with limited resources, overburdened counsellors, high teacher-to-student ratios, and competing demands on their time and attention.
This is why intervention requires schools, mental health professionals, online platform moderators, and broader social structures working together. No single person or institution can catch every signal, but a coordinated community approach creates multiple intervention points where sudden changes in behaviour might be noticed and addressed.
Misunderstanding the motive
It would be a disservice to simplify the incident as an attack motivated purely by rejection. Police described the accused as "infatuated" with the victim, but the two never had any actual interactions.
Recent TikTok trends in the wake of the incident revealed a worrying message some boys seem to have taken away: "Don't reject or we stab." This dangerous misinterpretation demonstrates why it is crucial to properly understand what happened and why, so we can address the real issues rather than reinforcing harmful narratives.
Malaysia has witnessed concerning instances of misogyny in public discourse, particularly online. During this period, violence against girls in educational settings was reported almost simultaneously
Much of the online commentary has focused on blaming "incels", a term referring to men who blame women for their inability to find romantic partners. However, the evidence suggests this young person did not fit that profile.
Using "incel" as a catch-all label for all misogyny-driven violence may prevent us from understanding the distinct patterns and influences that shape such acts. Recognising this distinction is crucial because it shapes how we respond.
What likely happened is that the accused developed what psychologists call a "parasocial relationship" with the victim.
This is a one-sided emotional connection where one person feels close to someone who does not know they exist. She had no knowledge of his fixation. Nothing in his note suggested hatred or a sense of entitlement. This was not about rejection, but about a distorted, imagined relationship that existed only in his mind.
Recognising this distinction is crucial because it shapes how we respond. The incident highlighted gaps in how we teach adolescents about healthy relationships.
We need to talk to our children about how to socialise whilst maintaining respectful boundaries, understanding consent, and recognising the difference between genuine connection and imagined relationships.
The deeper issue is helping teenagers distinguish between reality and fantasy and recognising when their thoughts may be veering into unhealthy territory.
Make violence harder to carry out
If we are serious about preventing another preventable death, we need to move beyond abstract discussions of "holistic approaches" and implement tactical measures. The attacker acquired two combat knives online and brought them to school undetected. We should be asking how this was so easy.
One sensible strategy would be requiring e-commerce platforms to verify buyers' ages for dangerous items and applying stringent controls at delivery, similar to cigarettes and alcohol. Upon receipt of a package containing a dangerous item, courier services could verify the recipient's age.
If the recipient is a minor, the courier could refuse delivery and return the product to seller. This creates a safety net at a critical intervention point without needlessly restricting everyone's freedom or invading students' privacy.
This approach is based on Situational Crime Prevention, a framework that has proven effective in reducing vehicle theft in the UK by making cars harder to steal through mandatory immobilisers. The theory rests on a simple principle: crime and violence are often opportunistic.
By modifying situations to increase the effort required to commit a crime, increase the risks of being caught, or remove the tools needed to carry it out, we may be able to reduce the likelihood of these acts occurring.
Consider the contrast between the US and UK. Part of the reason school shootings continue in the US is the widespread availability of firearms. The UK once allowed gun ownership until the tragic Dunblane massacre of 1996, a school shooting in Scotland that claimed 17 lives, 16 of them primary school children. Following that tragedy, the UK government banned private gun ownership.
When guns become unavailable, some violent incidents may shift to knife attacks. But we need to understand trade-offs. Knife crimes are horrific but typically result in fewer casualties than gun violence.
Malaysia does not allow private gun ownership without extraordinary justification, which is why this violence manifests as knife attacks. This suggests that restricting access to combat knives, particularly for minors, could be a reasonable preventive measure.
The performative nature of memetic violence
Responding by installing CCTVs and metal detectors throughout schools drains resources and may not effectively prevent future incidents. It might even risk encouraging copycat attacks.
The concerning aspect of memetic violence is its performative nature. When arrested after the Siam Paragon shooting, the 14-year-old perpetrator was wearing a baseball cap with an American flag, khaki cargo pants, and a dark shirt.
The Bandar Utama accused brought specifically combat knives, not ordinary kitchen knives. This attention to combat aesthetics and deliberate staging in public spaces seems designed to emulate the methods seen in internationally reported school shootings and gain notoriety.
The 2019 Christchurch Mosque shooting was notable because the perpetrator livestreamed his actions in real time. This suggests that the performance and visibility of violence is part of the motivation.
The Siam Paragon incident likely represents memetic violence, given the similar age profile, choice of public space, attention to combat aesthetics, and performative elements.
Since the pandemic, many adolescents have spent extended periods isolated and online. We focus on banning games and films but pay less attention to who they were talking to online, or the online communities where they encountered discussions that eroded their empathy and validated their violent impulses.
These digital spaces can function as incubators for memetic violence, where infamous mass casualty events are studied, discussed, and glorified.
Creating genuine prevention pathways
Singapore has successfully disrupted several planned attacks. The US organisation Sandy Hook Promise, formed after the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, has developed practical guidance on identifying warning signs in troubled young people and connecting them with help before violence occurs.
Such frameworks could serve as templates for developing locally adapted programmes suited to Malaysian contexts.
Prevention is possible but requires us to look beyond simplistic solutions.
We need comprehensive, evidence-based community responses that address root causes whilst implementing practical safeguards: better mental health support systems; education about healthy relationships, consent, and the difference between reality and fantasy; improved content moderation addressing not just religious extremism but also spaces that glorify violence; and age verification controls for dangerous items.
Most importantly, effective intervention becomes possible when communities move past reactive blame towards proactive support, understanding the actual patterns and influences at play. - Mkini
MUNIRA MUSTAFFA is the executive director and principal consultant of Chasseur Group, specialising in emerging threats and non-traditional security challenges.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.

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