A video of alleged gang members shouting gang chants and singing gang songs during a funeral procession was uploaded onto the Internet recently.

In it, several men walking in front of the cortege of what appears to be a Hindu funeral were chanting "Sa Lak Kau" (369) - the name of a infamous street gang.

According to The Straits Times, the deceased is a 55-year-old warehouse assistant named Guni. Lianhe Wanbao reported that the pulling of the cortege is a gang funeral tradition done for senior members. Such funerary traditions are usually done quietly without fanfare.

Gangs and secret societies existed in Singapore since the 19th century and initially served as clan societies for immigrants who arrived in Singapore from the same locale. Over time, the societies fought turf wars and were instrumental in inciting riots and gang attacks.

By the 20th century, strict legislation and policing managed to bring down the number of gangs and their activities.

The Singapore Police Force (SPF) issued a statement on March 4 regarding the arrest of several men involved in the gang related activity:

In case you can't read the embedded preview, the statement goes:

SWIFT POLICE ACTION AGAINST GANG-RELATED ACTIVITIES

The Police have arrested seven men, aged between 27 and 50, for their suspected involvement in gang-related activities.

Police were alerted to an online video depicting several men shouting gang-related slogans during a funeral procession along Jalan Bukit Merah. Through extensive ground enquiries and follow-up investigations, officers from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) established the identities of the persons in the said video. In an operation which commenced in the early morning of 3 March 2017, officers conducted simultaneous raids at various locations islandwide, resulting in the arrests.

Investigations against all the suspects are ongoing.

Police take a stern view of gang-related activities and will continue with our tough enforcement efforts and come down hard on those who choose to be associated with gangs.

Gang-related activity of any kind - from being a member of a gang to attending an lawful assembly - is illegal in Singapore. The penalty ranges from a monetary fine to jail term up to 10 years, including caning.

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