KUALA LUMPUR, May 10 — Selangor Pakatan Harapan (PH) MPs and state assemblymen have called upon the Ministry of Education to act in support of student activist Ain Husniza Saiful Nizam who is currently under attack for exposing gender inequality in schools.

The 11 MPs and 27 assemblymen said they are disappointed that the MoE has chosen to ignore the elephant in the room and remain mum on Ain's case.

“The handling of Ain's case leaves a black mark in democracy as we are telling our youth that those who speak out will be regarded as dissidents, agitators or worse, be labelled as satan.

 “We strongly urge the Ministry of Education to review the education system and take stern disciplinary actions against the headmistress, if she has made those negative comments, and the teacher who have erred against whistleblowers,” they said in a statement today.

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Among the MPs who signed the statements are former deputy prime minister and Pandan MP Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, former health minister and Kuala Selangor MP Datuk Seri Dzulkefly Ahmad and Bangi MP Ong Kian Ming.

Also co-signing the statements are Bukit Lanjan representative Elizabeth Wong from Jamaliah Jamaludin (DAP-Bandar Utama) and Mohd Sany Hamzan (Parti Amanah Negara-Taman Templer).

The PH politicians said Ain is a victim of a failed system that does not understand nor support girls and women’s rights but instead sees itself fit to defend teachers and students who promote rape and its culture of violence.

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They also called upon MoE to enforce the policy to promote gender equality and to develop respectful relationships between boys and girls as laid out in the 11th Malaysia Plan.

“The tendency now is to make light of violence and to give permission to boys to rape girls ‘above 18 years’.

“Therefore, one can only deduce that the rape joke carries with it a possible dangerous and implied message that if you have sex with a woman above 18 years, you can argue for consensual sex and get away with it,” they said.

On May 8, in a series of comments, the Facebook account of principal Sarimah Mohamed Nor (named “Aimanaizah Sarimahmohamednor”) called Ain a “hypocrite”, “Satan’s spawn wearing headscarves”, and told Ain’s parents to “educate her with manners”.

The comments were left on a post promoting Ain and her mother Niza Sharifudin’s appearance in a Facebook live session with Khadijah Learning Centre on the topic of speaking up.

Ain regained prominence on April 24 after complaining on TikTok that her teacher had joked about rape, sparking a nationwide debate on sex education and institutional misogyny, with many girls raising their voices over similar incidents.

The issue had started a Twitter Hashtag #MakeSchoolASaferPlace that set Twitter abuzz and appeared among the top 10 trending topics in the country — with even celebrities sharing their personal stories of sexual harassment.

Her original post on Twitter was accompanied by the hashtag #MakeSchoolASaferPlace, in which she called out public figures such as former education minister Maszlee Malik, Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, cartoonist Zunar, and celebrity actress and singer Adibah Noor, to support the cause.