Lawmakers must urgently come up with anti-bullying laws — PKR’s Voon

KUCHING: There is a need for all lawmakers in Parliament to look into the urgency of introducing anti-bullying laws in the country, said Parti Keadilan Rakyat ( PKR) Women national vice-president Voon Shiak Ni.

Voon, who is PKR Stampin branch vice-chairwoman, said the recent tragedies of bullying that led to death were alarming, and the increasingly worrying social ill calls for serious attention and action to curb it.

“The most recent was the tragic case involving T Nhaveen who died of his injuries from the bullying by five teenagers. It was quoted that he was also bullied by one of the suspects three years ago in school.

“In 2014, a 13-year- old boy and bright student, who was bullied by four boys in school, was driven to commit suicide by drinking insecticide.

“Then, this year we have a case of bullying in a school, whereby 10 boys had brutally beaten up a 15-year- old boy in the school dorm and the boy suffered fractured ribs as well as head, neck and back injuries,” she said in a press conference here yesterday.

Voon said the added worry is that these cases were just the tip of the iceberg, as she believed that most of the time, bullying among school children went unreported due to fear, anxiety, intimidation and shame suffered by the victims.

“Bullying can either be physical or psychological. For psychological bullying, it can be direct and indirect such as by instilling fear, anxiety and insecurity for a period of time.

Citing statistics that showed that there was an increase in the reported cases of bullying from 2015 to 2016 from 0.06 per cent to 0.11 per cent, Voon said society does not need more cases of death to sound an alarm on the risk and threat of bullying in schools for the government to do something urgent about it.

“We would also like to note that these days, our young people are also faced with the onslaught of cyber bullying which is also on the rise.”

According to Voon, antibullying laws have proven to be effective in countries like the US in reducing incidences of bullying in schools.

“Therefore, we seriously call on to all our lawmakers to start the ball rolling for the drafting of anti-bullying laws to penalise all forms of bullying, whether it is in schools, outside the schools, or cyber bullying.

“We also suggest that the views and feedback from all stakeholders of the matter such as the teachers, parents, and human rights-related non-governmental organisations be taken as a guideline for the drafting and formulation of the anti-bullying laws.”

Stating that a time frame must be given for the formulation of the anti-bullying laws, she added the government cannot wait for more deaths to happen due to bullying.

“That is why we are hopeful that all lawmakers from across all political divides will come together to support the antibullying laws just like what they did in supporting the Sexual Offences Against Children Bill, 2017.”

Voon noted that Miri MP Dr Michael Teo will submit a question on the matter in the coming Parliament sitting.