By Mariam Mokhtar

How serious is the problem of bullying in schools? More appropriately, is bullying in schools taken seriously and are bullies severely reprimanded to prevent a recurrence?

The murder trial of T Nhaveen has finally started at the High Court in Penang.

Four years ago, he was abducted while buying burgers at Bukit Gelugor in Penang. His abductors were his former schoolmates.

Nhaveen died of injuries when his abductors assaulted him by beating his head with crash helmets and burning him with cigarette butts.

Nhaveen’s mother, D Shanti told the court that for a year, her son was fearful of going to school because of the incessant bullying by the same bully.

A victim of bullying does not just suffer physical or mental scars, he also compromises his future.

When the victim is afraid of attending class, he will suffer a setback in his studies. Or he may drop out of school altogether because his fear of his bullies is greater than his fear of not getting an education.

During her testimony, Shanti said that her son was ambitious and eager to pass his SPM, so that he could attend a college in Klang Valley and take up a music degree.

He was also being employed part-time as a shoe promoter at a shopping mall to help pay his tuition fees.

Nhaveen was not only keen on his future, he was industrious enough to contribute towards his course fees.

During the trial, the court heard that when Nhaveen’s bully was suspended from school, Nhaveen’s fear of going to school vanished, and he started to resume his lessons as normal.

The court also heard that Shanti had confronted her son’s tormentor and told him to stop bullying Nhaveen, but the bully claimed that he, his friends, and Nhaveen were only larking about.

The bully then warned Nhaveen to stop complaining to his mother about being bullied and stop being effeminate by running to his mother to complain. He said, “A true man does not do this.”

So, was Nhaveen victimized, among other things, for his alleged sexuality?

In 2017, many cases of school bullying, besides Nhaveen’s, were reported in the papers. Was this an unprecedented number of cases? We know that publicity empowers others to report their own cases of bullying.

In May 2017, six Form Two students of Parit MARA Junior Science College (MRSM) complained about being bullied by ten senior boys. When the victims refused to lend the older boys their football boots, the seniors assaulted them.

In this school, the bullying was swiftly dealt with and the senior boys were suspended.

A few weeks later that May, the Mara college at Alor Gajah reported a case of bullying when seven seniors at the school hostel slapped, punched and kicked a 14-year-old student at 3am.

Other victims also came forward when this victim’s parents publicized their son’s assault. All the victims had regularly been asked to run errands for the senior boys.

When the investigation appeared to be dragging, the parents of this victim raised the matter higher up the Mara chain of command, and they subsequently discovered that the parents of the bullies were VVIPs.

As a society we must ask this question: should we keep one eye closed just because the bully is from a VVIP family, or do the victims deserve justice?

If not treated properly, victims of bullies will themselves become bullies. It transpired that one of the bullies in the Alor Gajah school had himself been bullied in the past.

We were also told that one of the bullies had been transferred from another Mara school because of bullying.

Why should the bully be given a new batch of victims to terrorize?

In 2021, have we learned any lessons from the previous cases of bullying? What are our schools teaching, if sexual harassment is not taken seriously, and making jokes about rape are considered ‘normal’? What is the message being passed on to our children?

Also in May 2017, naval cadet Zulfarhan Osman Zulkarnain, 21, who was studying at the Malaysian National Defence University (UPNM), died after being scalded and beaten by his fellow students.

The instruments of torture were a belt, a rubber hose, a steam iron and a clothes hanger.

He had been bound and tortured over a number of days.

Did the members of staff and warden not notice any of the bullying in any of these cases?

Students may be afraid to speak up if they knew, but teachers and wardens appear to be unaware of what goes on in their schools.

There are other subtle signs. Prolonged absence from school. A drop in the quality of work. Bruises. Lack of sleep and not concentrating in class. Don’t these teachers know?

Fast forward to 2021, is there a national database of bullying in schools?

A few people claim that there is an anti-bullying policy in schools, and a hotline is available for victims.

How well publicized are they? Few people were aware of either the policy or the hotline when I asked around.

Note: If you are being bullied and would like to chat to someone, try the Befrienders Tel no. 03-76272929.

Sources:

1. Free Malaysia Today: Nhaveen’s weeping mum tells of abduction, cigarette burns and a blood-soaked bed

2. Malaysia Gazette: 6 bully cases report in MRSM Parit

3. Malay Mail: Navy cadet Zulfarhan murder trial: Defence closes case after 20 witnesses called

4. The Star: Three students nabbed for bullying

Read also: 

1. The culture of bullying and abuse in our schools and universities
2. The curious case of the missing laptop in cadet’s murder

(Mariam Mokhtar is a Freelance Writer.)