MALACCA: A group of delinquent secondary school students have turned the back alley of a commercial centre in Jalan Gajah Berang into a pre-dawn "sin and sex" paradise.
The students converge at the area as early as 5.30am before going "wild" some explicitly engaging in sexual acts which traders in the area claim to have witnessed almost daily since the beginning of the year.
Many were spotted smoking before the school session started at 7.40am.
"These students have gone wild. We have caught them kissing at back lanes. They have no shame even if someone watches them.
"They caress, kiss and even indulge in oral sex in the semi-lit alleys," said a trader, 45, who requested anonymity.
State Education, Youth and Sport committee chairman Datuk Gan Tian Loo expressed his disappointment.
"I am startled over these students and their morally despicable activities," he told The Star yesterday.
Gan said he had just embarked on a campaign to eliminate school gangs when notified about the students' behaviour and would now also have to focus on moral behaviour.
"I am supposed to meet a group of students with disciplinary problems at a secondary school (today) to delve on matters relating to gangsterism but it appears I have to start my inaugural campaign at Gajah Berang schools."
The Star visited the area at 5.30am and discovered a teenage girl in school uniform fondling and kissing her peer at the back lane of a fast food outlet.
At another part of the alley, 10 students including schoolgirls were smoking even after they were aware of the media's presence in the area.
The principal of one of the schools near the alley encouraged the media to highlight the students' behaviour in the hope that police would intensify patrols in the area.
State police chief Senior Asst Comm Datuk Chuah Ghee Lye said police would dispatch school liaison officers to all three schools to meet with the principals.
"We will investigate the traders' claims and step up our patrols. We have to nip this in the bud," he said.
