Kuala Lampur, Oct. 15 -- When it comes to the mentally ill we so easily believe in the stereotypes - either they're the flamboyant types whose portrayals win actors Oscars or they're secret, smiling psychopaths using charm to lure victims.

In reality, illnesses of the mind, like the body, aren't so easy to generalise.

What do you do then when the sickness isn't in the body but the soul, and not in individuals but in the collective, society itself?

Our boys are sick.

Our young are sick.

Our institutions are rotting.

This sickness is from what we've allowed to fester and throwing money at added security at schools is like squirting water guns at peat fires.

The woes of disenfranchised youth is a tale as old as the media that existed ...