Religious teacher under sexual assault probe transferred


Looi Sue-Chern

AN Islamic studies teacher suspected of sexually assaulting five students in Penang was immediately removed from the school after complaints were lodged against him last week, said state education department director Mohd Jamil Mohamed.

The suspect was transferred to the education department office, he said, after parents of the alleged victims went to the school with accusations that the teacher had sexually assaulted their sons.

“The parents had complained to the school last week, even before the police reports against him were lodged,” Jamil told The Malaysian Insight.

“The school informed the department. The teacher was removed and ordered to report to the southwest district education department, where he was placed under supervision.

“It is the SOP (standard operating procedure) to remove him so he will not be able to go near the pupils.”

Jamil said department officials informed police of the suspect’s whereabouts, leading to his arrest at the department’s district office in Balik Pulau yesterday.

“Now it is a police case. The department will also take disciplinary action, but we have to wait for the outcome of the police’s investigation,” he said.

Earlier today, the southwest district police informed the media of the teacher’s arrest and remand until next Monday. 

The teacher has six police reports lodged against him for allegedly touching the private parts of five boys in Standard 4 and 5, and trying to touch another Standard 5 boy.

In one of the police reports, a victim the teacher had touched him inappropriately since April last year.

The teacher is being investigated under Section 14 of the Sexual Offences against Children Act 2017 for physical sexual assault against a child.

Jamil said such acts would not be tolerated, adding that there will be no compromise with sexual offences against children.

Apart issuing constant reminders to teachers and administrators, the state department also educates students on the dos and ‘don’ts of sexual propriety.

He said such incidents could happen anywhere and it was hard for the authorities to know about them, unless there were reports and complaints.

“It also surprised us that the complaint involved a religious teacher.” – July 24, 2018.


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Comments


  • Thats given him plenty of opportunity to erase all the indecent images on his devices, which you can be sure he had, given the nature of the allegations.

    Posted 7 years ago by Malaysia New hope · Reply

  • Thats given him plenty of opportunity to erase all the indecent images on his devices, which you can be sure he had, given the nature of the allegations.

    Posted 7 years ago by Malaysia New hope · Reply

  • Thats given him plenty of opportunity to erase all the indecent images on his devices, which you can be sure he had, given the nature of the allegations.

    Posted 7 years ago by Malaysia New hope · Reply

  • What if the boys are lying ? What will happened to this religious teacher ? Will it be oops we made a mistake ? The stigma he have to go through ? Let the police investigate !

    Posted 7 years ago by John Fam · Reply