KUALA LUMPUR, April 27 — Former de facto law minister Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said has joined the many voices backing teenager Ain Husniza Saiful Nizam’s call to make schools a safer place.
Azalina who is Deputy Dewan Rakyat Speaker in a Twitter post Azalina wrote: “Rape — actual or implied MUST be taken seriously. It is OUR collective responsibility to keep ALL children safe. When men become gatekeepers for other men on this matter, we know for certain that the fabric of our society is utterly damaged.”
The Pengerang MP’s comment comes after Deputy Inspector-General of Police Datuk Seri Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani reportedly described the rape threat made against Ain, could have been a possible joke by her classmate.
However in a statement this evening, police accused two news outlets today of publishing misleading headlines when reporting Acryl’s remarks.
Bukit Aman’s IGP Secretariat issued a statement alleging that Malaysiakini and China Press used confusing headlines and failed to provide the full context of Acryl’s comments when he addressed the topic at a press conference in Shah Alam yesterday.
In 2017 Azalina tabled the Sexual Offences against Children Bill 2017.
She had then issued a stern warning to perpetrators, saying that they can run but they cannot hide.
The Bill was passed in Parliament the same year.
Yesterday, Acryl Sani confirmed that Ain had filed two police reports, the first was over what she felt was an improper approach by her teacher, and the second report was regarding what may be a joke from her classmate, which she couldn’t accept.
Ain, a 17-year-old, whose post on TikTok and Twitter which alleged her physical and health education teacher for joking about rape, sparked mass outrage.
The joke included telling the boys in class that if they were to commit rape, they should target those above 18.
Following this, Ain posted on Twitter again, this time indicating that she received an audio message from a male classmate who was unhappy that she made the allegations publicly instead of dealing with it internally in the school.
