ANOTHER MRSM STUDENT BULLIED
Parents of 14-yearold lodge report in Alor Gajah
LAILI ISMAIL
KUALA LUMPUR news@nst.com.my
JUST days after 10 Maktab Rendah Sains Mara (MRSM) Parit seniors were expelled for assaulting six juniors, another bullying case has been reported, this time at MRSM Alor Gajah.
The parents of a 14-year-old student lodged a report claiming that their son had been brutally assaulted by seven seniors at his school hostel.
The report said the Form Two student suffered bruises all over his body after he was repeatedly slapped, punched and kicked in the 3am incident on May 6.
Initially, the boy’s mother did not plan to tell the media, but after reading a New Straits Times’s report published on May 19 on the bullying case at MRSM Parit, she decided not to keep quiet about it.
She said the seniors bullied her son into carrying out tasks, such as getting drinks or cooking instant noodles.
It was learnt that a group of mostly Form Three students regularly ordered Form Two students to do favours, such as ironing shirts, preparing instant noodles and delivering boxed drinks and cigarettes.
“My son had been complying with whatever they demanded, and neither me nor my husband knew that he was being bullied,” the mother said.
She said things got worse on May 6 when her son was asked to either get the seniors three boxed drinks or get beaten up. Her son did as he was told and went to sleep.
But, at 3am, 10 Form Three students woke him up and took him to a dorm room filled with seniors.
He was placed in the middle of the room and made to squat. The seniors kicked his legs and back, and punched his arms. One of them repeatedly slapped his face with a sandal.
“My son was asked to pick an opponent to spar with, but he didn’t as he did not know how to fight,” the mother said.
She said the bullies subjected another Form Two student to similar torture.
She said she and her husband only came to know about the incident later that afternoon when they visited him.
“We took him to the Alor Gajah police headquarters and hospital before gathering his belongings in his dorm room and bringing him home to Bangi.”
Despite being physically and emotionally traumatised, the student begged his mother to allow him to return to school.
But, after seeing his schoolmates ridiculing him on Instagram for being a snitch, he changed his mind.
The mother said her son was upset that his schoolmates had turned on him because he informed his parents and the warden about what had happened.
“He was devastated. He told me that he thought he had done the right thing by reporting the assault. He keeps asking why his schoolmates are angry at him.”
Angered by what had befallen her son, the mother, who is a banker, contacted the mothers of the students who branded her son a barua (lackey).
The banker said the school had, in their report on May 9, suggested that four of the 11 identified bullies be expelled and three suspended for a week, but four face no action.
“On May 11, my husband and I went to the Mara headquarters to pursue the matter, as the school could not take any action without the headquarters’ approval.
“We were told that they (Mara) were aware of the case and investigating it.
“We were not satisfied with their response, so we returned on May 15 and met one of the directors. He told us the case was being investigated.
“I told them that sterner action must be taken against the bullies, but I have been told that they (the bullies) are now back in school after being suspended for a mere two weeks.”
The mother highlighted the case to other parents in a WhatsApp group and learned that the same group of students had bullied other Form Two students on April 26 and May 4.
She was told that the parents of the bullies were VVIPs and one of them had texted her husband to ask for forgiveness on behalf of their son, who had himself been bullied in the past.
It was learnt that one of the bullies had been transferred to Alor Gajah from a different MRSM due to a bullying incident.
The mother said this bullying culture must be stopped as it would create a vicious cycle and more bully cases in the future.