Disclaimer: I am by no means an expert on the subject matter. Treat this post as a personal opinion of myself with a limited experience and knowledge at the time of posting. If you have any questions, concerns or objections about my point of view, please refer to an actual expert on the subject matter.
This post was dedicated to Adik Irene Sofea, 16 years old when she was murdered in her school on 3rd October 2026 and anyone who had fallen victim to bullying, abuse, sexual assault or homicide. May she be placed among the believers. Al-Fatihah.
Bullying has been a major problem in our education system. ‘Budaya Asrama’, ‘Setel’, ‘Ragging’ and ‘Seniority’ which had long been a parasitic tradition since the establishment of our schools stemmed from the desire for vengeance, lack of empathy and grandiose sense of self-importance. This kind of unacceptable behavior had resulted in serious safety concerns, news headlines, and recently deaths. If the problem is not addressed properly, this would led to severe public distrust of our education system. In this post, I would like to propose several solutions that may help with the problem.
Misconceptions about Human Motives
What makes a human capable of committing these horrific acts? Committing abuse, assault or homicide alone would trigger intense emotional response of guilt and shame in most people. Even when the laws clearly dictates that these crimes would be met with severe punishments, these people still manage to do these despicable things without hesitation. This clearly shows a significant degradation of our students’ empathy and morals. Bad influence, incompetency of our justice system and toxic environments which silenced and even punished the victims all had contributed to the bad cause.
What should we do to remedy this problem? Some popular phrases such as ‘Protect Your Daughter’ or ‘Educate Your Sons’ seems promising to solve it. Yet, both of these premises had one major flaw. The first premise, ‘Protect Your Daughter’ assumes that perpetrators won’t kill, abuse or commit assault given the victim had wear modest clothing, not going out alone at night, or by not being vulnerable, yet these people would do such horrific act to anybody given they had the chances. The second premise, ‘Educate Your Sons’ assumes that a perpetrators won’t kill, abuse or commit assault given they had enough education on the subject, yet everybody (including the perpetrators) knows that the action is wrong and against the law. Both of these premises failed to recognize that these perpetrators did their crime not out of external stimuli or lack of information, but rather the lack of internal moral conscience, empathy and sound mental judgement which are commonly found in mental disorders. In other words, they committed these wrongful act not because they didn’t know it was wrong, but simply because they had no remorse while doing it.
The Psychology of a Bad Child
How can a human being, as innocent as a child became so rotten that the individual was able to commit bullying, assault and murder? Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition (DSM-5) had listed out several probable cause for the incident. One of which I want to point out is the Conduct Disorder.
Conduct Disorder (CD), by definition is a mental health condition diagnosed in children and adolescents that involves a repetitive and persistent pattern of behavior violating the basic rights of others or major age-appropriate societal norms. It is also a major precursor to the development of Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD, or informally known as sociopathy or psychopathy). Both Conduct Disorder and ASPD had identical characteristics, except that Conduct Disorder is a diagnosis specifically for minors under 18, while the diagnosis of ASPD requires the characteristics of Conduct Disorder to persists into adulthood (more detailed elaboration can be found in DSM-5). Conduct Disorder often occur alongside other psychiatric conditions, including but not limited to depression, Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and learning disorders.
There are 4 core behaviors when considering the diagnosis of Conduct Disorder, which may include:
- aggression to people and animal (i.e. bullying, physical violence, forcing sexual activity)
- destruction of property (i.e. setting fires, vandalism)
- deceitfulness or theft (i.e. lying to get a favor or avoid responsibilities, stealing, breaking or trespassing)
- serious violation of rules (i.e. breaking laws, truancy, substance abuse)
The exact cause for developing Conduct Disorder in an individual specifically is unknown, but researchers found the general causes was linked to a complex combination of biological/genetic and environmental factors:
Biological/genetic factors:
- genetic inheritance
- high testosterone levels are associated with aggression
- traumatic brain injury, seizures and neurological damage can damage brain site that processes emotional regulation and empathy, thus leading to aggression
Parental, familial and environmental factors:
- Parents with history of substance abuse and antisocial behaviors
- Victims of domestic violence
- Dysfunctional family environment full of neglects and conflicts
- Living in poverty or low social and economics environments
- Living in a neighborhood with high amount of drugs abuse and crime rates
Note that the development of conduct disorder is not exclusive to low-functioning families and may occur in a high-functioning ones.
Based on the arguments above, I would suggest that we should consider remedying the root cause of the problem based on the larger picture. More often than not the aggressor themselves was a past victim. Therefore, I advocate for teachers, counselors, parents and society alike to alert the authority such as PDRM or Jabatan Kebajikan Masyarakat (JKM) if there is a suspected child bullying, abuse or neglect cases in the school or local neighborhood. If such cases were proven, the victim would be in the custody of JKM to provide support and prevent further damage to the child well-being. We do not want the child to develop a deviant nature which would be a point of no return: as most personality disorders are long-term, almost impossible to cure and would further feed into the destructive vicious cycle.
The perpetrators of these crimes need to face proper justice. In the case of minors, they need to be counselled or punished, suspended, expelled or even placed in juvenile detention center. In the case of abusive adults or parents however, they need to face their repercussions in the court of law.
The statement about Conduct Disorder above was not to justify the horrific action of these past victims, as every action had its consequences. But inflicting harm, or overly pampering others would only lead to more harm later on. Prevention is better than cure. To put it simply, for instance, it is way easier to prevent somebody from being a killer than stopping a killer from killing other people. Therefore, it is wiser to take no chance at all to prevent it from happening.
Danger of Whistleblowing in a Dysfunctional Society
People might argue why most cases of bullying, sexual assault or domestic abuse goes unreported, either by the victim or the people around the incident. Some blame these people for being ignorant. Based on my personal experiences though, the sole reason that people are reluctant to help these victims is because the law or the rules itself does not provide the legal protection needed to the whistleblower or the victim (or the said law was poorly executed), and not because they are agreeing with the perpetrators. I can remember countless times that when a case was reported, the details of the informer would be leaked to the public. Afterwards, either the teachers, employers, colleagues or peers would take action against the informer instead. It is easy to blame somebody for what had happened, as the public would lash out at the moment the news of the tragedy spread. What most people do not realize is about the risks someone is carrying when they decide to come forward. As a result, these people chose to stay silent out of fear.
Moreover, more often than not the disciplinary bodies in these schools had already been corrupted. Prefects and students sometimes became the accomplices to these crimes. If that the case, it is almost impossible for schools administration to take a proper action in time against these problems. Schools need to realize that their biggest asset in combating delinquency is the intel provided by their students, as students often gain first hand insights about a disciplinary misconduct before their teachers. When the news were out and parents were outraged for what had already happened to their beloved child, it would be too late.
Laws and rules can only be as good as its implementation. A rule without proper execution is ineffective, or even objectively useless. The body that are responsible for the safety of the said whistleblower and victim must be independent from the governing body: i.e. prefectorial boards must be appointed and directly reports to the school headmaster or principal, and the said body should be independent from the school and dormitory elected student government. This separation of power is essential, as a method of check and balance. Student government carries out the student voice and checks the prefectorial board from misuse of power, and the prefectorial board provide intel and checks the student government from corruption or complicity. As most schools’ student government and prefectorial body are effectively the same body and came from the same source of power (either all of them are appointed by the school or all of them are voted by the students), the likelihood for the abuse of power and breach of trust are very high.
With the school administration and disciplinary bodies, prefectorial boards and the student governments serve as a 3 separate entity with the power to check and balance each other, we could significantly lower the risks for abuse of power, misconduct and unreported cases of delinquency. Clear rules and laws need to be clearly stated including the guarantee of anonymity and safety to the whistleblower and the victim, transparency of disciplinary action and ruling, and the jurisdiction of each law enforcers and governing entity.
Final Remark
I advocate for the safety of our schools. There is no such place for violence, let alone murder in our education institutions. I’m urging parents and teachers association, the public and students to push for public reform, to make our schools a safer place. If this problem persists, we would see unwanted statistics of death tolls due to the incompetency of our system. The cost of a single live is huge enough to bear and should have prompted us to take action. I hope the future of our kids will be in good hands, for us to never have to see another devastating news headlines again.
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