KUALA LUMPUR, June 26 — A parents group has supported a proposal for legislation to curb bullying in schools, following two high-profile killings of students by bullies.
The Melaka Action Group for Parents in Education (Magpie) said Malaysia should have laws to empower teachers to act against bullies and to protect them and bullying victims.
“We need it because presently, there are many cases where teachers dare not act against problematic students for fear of retaliation. Some have their cars scratched, houses stoned at night, children intimidated, phone stalked, et cetera,” Magpie chairman Mak Chee Kin told Malay Mail Online.
“Some discipline teachers also are not given the support by head teachers when action was taken or [when they were] confronted by parents. With such legislation, head teacher/ teachers will know that they are protected, thus enabling them to act without fear,” he added.
Three Penang DAP MPs — Kasthuri Patto (Batu Kawan), Ramkarpal Singh (Bukit Gelugor) and Steven Sim (Bukit Mertajam) — urged the government Friday to enact legislation against bullying, citing the UK’s Education and Inspections Act 2006 that empowers schools to discipline students, such as by imposing detention outside school sessions.
The federal lawmakers also suggested extending emergency protection orders to bullying victims and to teachers threatened by bullies, besides calling for laws against cyberbullying.
Magpie said some parents were too protective of their children and could not accept it when told of their offspring’s wrongdoing.
“They will instead defend their action and often than not, will say that the teachers are biased etc,” Mak said.
“Prevention is a better long-term solution. As such, it is not only the duty [of] teachers but first and foremost, the parents themselves as well as the community as large. Cooperate and support the teacher and school if informed [of] your children’s misdeeds,” he added.
T. Nhaveen, 18, died on June 15 after he fell unconscious from beatings by school bullies who had also allegedly sodomised him with an object in Penang. Four teenagers aged 17 and 18 have been charged with his murder.
Nhaveen’s attack followed the death of National Defence University of Malaysia (UPNM) student Zulfarhan Osman Zulkarnain, 21, on June 1 after he was assaulted, tortured and burned with a steam iron by fellow students at his university dormitory in Kuala Lumpur. Five students have been charged with his murder.
