THE sight of her 14-year-old son’s bruised and beaten body often haunts Dr Nurul Kharmila Abdullah, but she has decided to use those painful images to fuel her efforts to fight back against school bullies.

Dr Kharmila’s campaign, named “You Touch, You Go”, is aimed at putting pressure on schools, especially boarding schools, to expel pupils found guilty of bullying.

“Bullying is worse when it becomes physical. If you touch or hit, even once, you must go, meaning you must be expelled,” said the lecturer who is also a specialist in the field of medical and forensic medicine.

She said some schools have anti-bullying campaigns of their own but none has a policy of suspending guilty parties.

“In my opinion, if a bully is unable to adapt to the social environment of a boarding school, he or she needs to be placed in a day school where the parents can better monitor them,” she said.

On May 23, a total of 10 pupils from Maktab Rendah Sains MARA (MRSM) in Parit, Perak, were found guilty of bullying six Form 2 pupils. The bullies were suspended from the school.

Dr Kharmila’s son was one of the victims. He suffered bruises and cuts from a beating after he refused to give his slippers to the bullies. He was also forced to drink hot water and had hot water poured all over the body.

The boy was initially traumatised by the incident but after support from the family, he has regained his confidence, she said, stressing the importance of parental support in such cases. Dr Kharmila has since transferred her son to another school.

Her anti-bullying effort has garnered greater support after a young navy cadet officer from the Malaysian National Defence University was found with bruises and burn marks on the body late Thursday.

Zulfarhan Osman Zulkarnain was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital. Police said 36 other students have been detained for questioning in what authorities believe is yet another bullying case.

Starting from young

Dr Kharmila said the message against bullying must be made clear to pupils from a young age.

“We need to tell them the negative effects of bullying. Then when they are facing the situation next time, they will think twice,” said the mother of four.

“The culture of seniors bullying juniors is not good. I think Mara needs to consider hiring permanent wardens. Because currently, teachers serve as wardens and they have their own work and duties.”

Dr Kharmila aims to bring her campaign to all schools and hopes to approach the Education Ministry to adopt it.

According to her, the #youtouchyougo campaign will be expanded through the MRSM parents’ association, Muafakat.

The proposal is being discussed among several MRSM parents and will be expanded to boarding schools.

An English daily has also approached Dr Kharmila to help publicise her campaign but it is still being discussed. 

According to Dr Kharmila, the reception to her campaign has so far been encouraging and many parents with bullied children have approached her for advice.

According to statistics from the ministry, 4,159 bullying cases were recorded in 2012. The numbers dropped to 4,120 in 2013, 2014 (2,825) and 2015 (2,968).

While the number appears to be dropping, more cases are reported.

In February, local media highlighted the case of a female pupil at a secondary school who had to receive four stitches on the head after she was bullied by classmates.

Responding to that incident, Education Minister Mahdzir Khalid said primary and secondary school pupils found guilty of bullying can be suspended up to six months, depending on the severity of the offence.

In announcing that this ruling would take effect immediately, Mahdzir also said he has delegated the power to a disciplinary committee comprising school officials and the district education office (PPD) to decide the suspension period based on their findings.

Rehabilitate, not expel

While bullying should be seen as a serious issue, Dr Mariani Mohamad Nor from Universiti Malaya said expulsion was not the answer to the problem.

She urged schools to set up counselling units targeted specifically at rehabilitating bullies.

“Expulsion is not the answer. I’ve seen this happen since the 1990s, when a pupil is expelled, he or she will just bring the activities to the new school,” the dean and psychology specialist at the Faculty of Education told The Malaysian Insight.

“We need to think about how to build people of good character, who will be our future leaders. We need to build a special module to rehabilitate them.  

“Each school should have this rehabilitation counselling module.” – June 5, 2017.