KUALA LUMPUR, July 16 — Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram) roped in today the aid of Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) to look into a delay by the authorities in the investigation of a 10-year-old student allegedly molested by her teacher in school in Ampang last month.
The civil society was representing the parents of the girl and submitted a memorandum to Suhakam at its office here today.
Suaram project coordinator Muhammad Alshatri told reporters that the parents and the group feared the teacher may be a repeat molester.
“The teacher was reported to have sexually harassing students at the previous school,” he said, adding that the male teacher was then transferred to his present school and is still working there after a complaint was made.
According to Muhammad Alshatri, the Education Ministry does not have the specific mechanism to process complaints and address sexual harassment cases in schools.
“This has allowed the teacher to repeat the same actions with other students,” he said.
In the memorandum to Suhakam, the victim’s parents have an account of the assault on their daughter.
The girl had related to her mother that she had been made to sit on her male teacher’s lap and that he had fondled her chest and private parts during school recess on June 13.
The family had filed a police report the next day.
The parents claimed to have met the school headmaster, who told them that the incident was not a big issue and that the school could not do anything about the harassment problem, and advised them to sort it out with the teacher.
Suhakam commissioner Datuk Lok Yim Pheng said schools have to take complaints seriously as their students are minors whose safety is the responsibility of its staff.
“The school administration should take this matter seriously and solve it professionally. All parties have to take action to investigate and ensure there is an answer to this,” she said.
