KUALA LUMPUR, June 18 — It took the shock and anger over the tragic death of T. Nhaveen for Malaysia to rekindle a much-needed discussion on the arguably deeply-rooted culture of bullying in schools.
Many who read the details of the assault could not fathom just how an innocent youth could have been attacked so viciously by his former school bullies with helmets and sticks, but was also sodomised with a foreign object.
But what compels someone or a group of people to commit such atrocities against a fellow human being? And most importantly, how does the nation go forward from this?
Here are three things we learned from the tragedy:
1. From schools to families: we do not know who to blame
Politicians from both sides of the divide have used Nhaveen’s case as a platform to apportion blame and responsibility on the part of schools and authorities, with Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng saying that the onus is on schools to curb bullying among students, and that teachers must be vigilant in spotting such activities.
Similarly, Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam called for more serious and drastic action by the authorities to curb what he described as the poisonous culture of bullying in schools and gangsterism among youths.
But who do we blame for the many bullying cases that go unreported in schools almost every year?
In Nhaveen’s case, is it the fault of the families of the teenagers who assaulted him? Are they solely to blame for failing to impart basic human values and empathy which led to the actions of Nhaveen’s attackers?
Do we place fault entirely at schools and teachers, who failed to take measures to ensure that such bullying tactics should never be condoned, or to educate students on how it is wrong to treat anyone with hate and disrespect just because they are perceived to be “different”?
Or do we also blame society for glorifying violence in everyday life, where diversity and difference within Malaysia’s communities are viewed with contempt and often answered with either verbal or physical attacks that serves to reinforce a form of toxic masculinity?
There is no simple answer for this, but what we can begin to do is address the fact that bullying just does not occur by chance. It is fostered and nurtured through conditions and institutions which normalises this behaviour and implicitly encourages it.
According to Malaysian Psychological Association president Dr Goh Chee Leong, “institutionalised bullying“ still takes place in some schools through the act of “ragging”- where older students are given leeway and allowed to discipline and ridicule younger students as a form of initiation.
“It is almost semi-encouraged through the prefects, senior students and hostel wardens to teach and ‘discipline’ the juniors,” he reportedly said.
The practice of ragging in schools on the pretext of forming closer ties and bonds between students should be heavily scrutinised and re-examined, as there is a very thin line between fostering healthy ties between students and bullying.
2. Schools may not be equipped to cope
The rise of bullying cases as highlighted in the media also brings about an important question as to whether schools and teachers are equipped with the proper knowledge and tools to deal with bullying cases.
According to Education Minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid, a school gang leader would be suspended from school for six months if found guilty of bullying.
But do these forms of punitive measures address the bullying culture at hand, or does it merely serve a short-term solution?
If there are mechanisms in place in schools to deal with bullying cases, what are they? Is there a “safe environment” or protocol in place where victims of alleged bullying can confide in with a teacher or counsellor? In many cases, complaints by victims go unaddressed and they just have to live with it until they leave school or finish their studies.
The Education Ministry should also disclose the types of training given to teachers and counsellors to deal with bullying cases. Do they know how to look out for signs that a student can be a potential victim of bullying, or do they merely act if and when a student lodges an official complaint?
In some cases, there may be extenuating circumstances which make it difficult for victims to come forward for fear of reprisal by the alleged bully or the belief that nothing will get resolved by coming forward.
And are the teachers trained to counsel bullies themselves? How do they approach the task of rehabilitating bullies besides giving them a slap on the wrist?
Bullying itself takes many forms and is not just limited to physical aggression. Name-shaming, exposure of private photographs and the spreading of rumours aimed at destroying a student’s reputation on social media is also a form of extreme bullying, and one with lasting mental and psychological repercussions.
3. We sorely need to accept diversity, difference
The rise in bullying cases nationwide and the many that go unreported are ultimately a reflection of who we are as a society and how we’ve come to embrace violence and a pre-determined idea concerning gender, identity and ethnicity.
Ours is a society which has little space for understanding, empathy and compassion for diversity beyond assigned gender roles and ethnicities — for example if you are a Malay, it is almost expected for you to be “masculine” and heterosexual, and anything else that runs counter to this description deserves to be met with nothing but contempt and derision.
We actively ridicule and persecute those who are perceived as “effeminate”, different ,and those who hold beliefs that we do not fully comprehend or understand. Instead of “accepting” the idea of diversity and difference in society, we merely “tolerate” it… until we do not anymore.
Ours is a society which gleefully shares and uploads videos of people hitting other people, or verbally abusing them to teach them a “lesson”, or to get their point across.
Violence becomes the only understood and accepted language, and our greatest fallacy is accepting that as a norm.
In schools, terms like “boys will be boys” and “toughen up” are too often accepted as a rite of passage for growing children and will only serve to legitimise bullying and acts of violence in the pretext that it is needed to shape and mould youths into adults.
Our education system also teaches students that gender nonconformity, different orientations are wrong and are a problem which should be rectified. This inherently legitimises bullying as a means to “correct” those who cannot conform to assigned gender roles.
As a society, we need to make a firm stand in rejecting violence in any form, and move towards truly understanding the concept of diversity and difference. Punitive measures won’t deter a social problem which has been festering for decades.
