MALAYSIA: The Malaysian armed forces will be looking into fresh accusations of reports of bullying after a hot iron was pressed on the chest of a student at the Malaysian National Defence University (MNDU).
According to a South China Morning post report, the student was tortured by another senior student who put an iron on his chest until there were burn marks.
The defence ministry posted on its Facebook page on Wednesday that the case was being investigated.
“The Armed Forces stress that investigations will be thorough and will not protect or compromise with any party involved in the case.”
Angkatan Tentera Malaysia (ATM) sedang menyiasat kes seorang pegawai kadet di Akademi Latihan Ketenteraan (ALK), Universiti Pertahanan Nasional (UPNM), Sungai Besi yang dipercayai menjadi mangsa buli dan dera oleh seorang penuntut senior.
ATM dalam kenyataan pada Rabu malam… pic.twitter.com/tO61WSqqY8
— Astro AWANI (@501Awani) October 30, 2024
The bullying claims upset many Malaysians who condemned the action, saying that the university is dangerous. The university produces many military officers and future leaders in the armed forces.
There have even been calls for UPNM to shut down, especially since this was not the first incident. In July this year, the Malaysian Court of Appeal handed the death penalty to six students for killing a fellow cadet at the university. The boy, Zulfarhan Osman Zulkarnain was 21 years old when six of his fellow students took turns pressing a steam iron on him, burning his body and his private parts. He died 10 days after the incident.
Comments on Facebook called for serious action.
“This is not ragging, it is already maximum bullying, torture. People like this cannot be let off,” commented Shawal Ali.
Another comment stated, “Their mindsets are worse than inmates at Henry Gurney.”
(Henry Gurney is a juvenile correctional facility in Malaysia that has gained infamy).
Parents Action Group for Education head Noor Azimah Rahim said the recent case showed that there was an urgent need for administrators to tighten procedures to prevent this from happening again and again.
She said there should be a safe avenue for students to report such incidents as well.
“There must be immediate action taken to prevent any untoward incident.”
According to data from the Ministry of Education, almost 5,000 cases of bullying have been reported in 2023.