Mara conducting inquiry into period spot check abuse claims, says ex-student

 

A former student, *Zakiah, has confirmed that she was contacted by Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara) ever since Malaysiakini first broke news of period spot check abuse claims by former students.

Experts, political leaders, and activists have spoken up on the issue, while there has been very little official comment on the matter.

This comes after Mara chairperson Azizah Mohd Dun told Malaysiakini last week that she was opposed to period spot checks and would investigate and then issue a statement on the matter.

Mara oversees several boarding schools where the practice purportedly takes place.

Zakiah, a former student of Maktab Rendah Sains Mara (MRSM) Tun Abdul Razak in Pekan, Pahang, says that she was contacted by a Mara officer after lodging a complaint on its website.

"They (Mara) said they’ve been getting several reports about my school and wanted me to tell my friends to give them more names and their experiences.

"They even asked beforehand if I’m from MRSM Johor Baru and the officer did sound concerned. I think they genuinely weren’t aware of the situation until the reports surfaced these past few days."

"They did say they want to investigate the matter," Zakiah told Malaysiakini.

She also recounted her own negative experiences while at boarding school.

"I’ve personally experienced the period spot checks - groping, physical assault (face slapping), slut-shaming, public humiliation and verbal abuse from wardens and teachers alike.

"Mostly female, although there were a few males," she recalled, saying that while she ran into a little trouble over not wanting to wear 'hand socks' when she was in Form 1, things got much worse in Form 3 when she was 15.

"There was an ustazah who was one of the wardens for the female hostel. It became mandatory to check all the Muslim girls who can’t pray if they really were on their period or not.

"It was normalised, no one questioned it, not the students and definitely not the prefects.

"So yes, there were a few instances where I had to take a piece of tissue and wipe it on the blood on my pad and show it to her/the prefect (sometimes she would even ask us to show the pad itself).

Girls in multiple schools who spoke to Malaysiakini previously said the measures include showing their blood-soaked sanitary pads, doing swabs of their vagina with either cotton buds, tissue papers or their fingers, or having a teacher, warden or school prefect pat them down at the groin to feel if they are wearing a sanitary pad.

More than a dozen individuals had reached out to Malaysiakini with their stories from government residential and day schools, as well as private religious institutions, comprising both current students and others who left school up to 20 years ago.

In Islam, women or girls who are menstruating do not perform ritual prayers.

Penang mufti Wan Salim Wan Mohd Noor was the first cleric to speak out against the practice of period shaming, saying no one has the right to embarrass girls and women by checking their private parts and prove menstruation.

"Islam strictly forbids its followers from looking at other people's aurat, even on the pretext of performing the required duties such as to prevent a female student from making excuses to abandon the obligation of prayer," Wan Salim told Malaysiakini.

Groped by teacher, public humilation

Zakiah recounted another incident when she was late for class due to terrible period cramps and the math teacher didn’t believe her.

"She groped me beside the classroom to ensure I was wearing a pad.

"Even after that, another math teacher who wasn’t satisfied with my excuse and thought I was not on my period (even though I was wearing a pad), then proceeded to slap and belittle me right there beside the classroom.

"I felt so humiliated and remember running back to my room after class bawling my eyes out," recalled Zakiah who is now in her early 20s.

"At the time, as I’m sure many have said, I could not comprehend any of it was wrong so I always assumed that I deserved it and that everyone went through the same thing."

"We were never taught that educators should not have the rights to our bodies. Caning is prevalent so what are period spot checks?" she asked.

She said the worst incident involved public humiliation at the surau.

"Anyone who came down late and didn’t perform congregational prayers in the surau (doesn’t matter if you’ve performed individual prayers in the dorms), you were made to stand in a line between the male and female sides of the surau and the ustaz would just spend the first few minutes telling you off in public and telling everyone to look at us and make sure we felt humiliated so we wouldn’t do it again.

"And we would stand there during the whole sermon between maghrib and isyak and I would just feel so worthless.

"It was a tactic of belittling us because this wasn’t a one-time thing, it happened almost every night.

"Slowly, most of the students would sort of isolate the ones who were coming down late/not performing congregational prayers.

In calling on the Education Ministry to end such practice, psychological experts said period spot checks are "a form of bullying" that can have a negative impact on young girls for many years afterwards.

Despite having some close friends, Zakiah said she felt so isolated and there was no one to turn to. Worse, her experiences began to turn her against organised religion.

"I felt like no one actually understood how hypocritical the wardens were. Preaching about how beautiful the religion is but in the same breath, shouting kafir and making us criticise other religions.

"There’s a fine line between enforcing/policing someone and wanting them to be stronger of faith," she said.

Determined to speak out

While others may shy away from broaching such a painful subject, Zakiah is determined to make her voice heard.

"I am very hopeful and I will not stop until I’m sure there’s change. I’ll try my best to voice out through social media.

"That’s why I want to make a public announcement. I know most of us would feel unsure of where to start after coming to terms with the trauma, so I want them to know we’re not in this alone and they have a means of ending this nightmare.

"It is heartbreaking when there are plenty more stories to be told from survivors who won’t come forward because they don’t want to go through the trauma again.

"These practices have to be stopped immediately, and hopefully those of us who lived through them can also gain closure," she added.

Other prominent figures who condemned the practice in schools include former ministers Rafidah Aziz, Azalina Othman Said and Maszlee Malik, while Women, Family, and Community Development Minister Rina Harun has vowed to engage the relevant authorities.

Deputy Education Minister Muslimin Yahaya on Thursday said that he had yet to receive any information on the matter, three days after the stories first went viral on Twitter and reported by Malaysiakini, among others.

Education Minister Mohd Radzi Md Jidin has yet to issue any statement on the matter despite repeated attempts to seek his comments.

Malaysiakini is attempting to contact MRSM Tun Abdul Razak and Mara for a further response to the reported internal inquiries, but has yet to meet with a response. Attempts to get updates from Azizah have also not been successful.

*Zakiah is not her real name. - Mkini