Charge culprits in UPNM bullying case, says activist

 

A senior cadet at Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia was alleged to have pressed a hot iron against the chest of a junior cadet. (Facebook pic)

PETALING JAYA: 

An activist has called for legal action to be taken against those responsible following allegations that a cadet at Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia’s (UPNM) in Sungai Besi was bullied by a senior who pressed a hot iron against his chest.

Wan Azliana Wan Adnan, head of the Anti-Bullying Act Campaign, told FMT that punitive measures such as suspensions are ineffective when bullying involves physical assault.

The armed forces said yesterday that it was investigating the bullying allegations.

“It’s disturbing to think that someone could use something as brutal as a hot iron to harm another person. These actions go far beyond bullying — they’re acts of physical violence, and they are extremely cruel,” said Wan Azliana.

“How can this happen again at the same university, with the same methods of bullying? Did the university take action against those responsible in Zulfarhan’s case? The answer is no.”

In 2017, navy cadet Zulfarhan Osman Zulkarnain died after being tortured by his peers at UPNM’s Jebat hostel, with the Court of Appeal imposing the death sentence on six former UPNM students convicted of murdering him in May.

The High Court in 2021 tried the six for murder but reduced their charge to culpable homicide not amounting to murder, and sentenced them to 18 years in prison.

In May, the prosecution sought the death penalty for the six as a deterrent to the community and to emphasise the rejection of bullying and extreme abuse.

At the time, deputy public prosecutor K Mangai argued that the torture of Zulfarhan, which resulted in 90 scald burns covering 80% of his body, constituted an extreme act. She said an autopsy revealed that the scalding burns were the cause of death.

After the Court of Appeal’s ruling, defence minister Khaled Nordin had said he hoped UPNM would ensure that there would not be any similar bullying incidents at its campus.

“That happened in 2017; I believe there have been no further incidents since then, meaning that appropriate measures may have been taken by the university,” Bernama had quoted him as saying.

Hold institutes accountable

Wan Azliana also highlighted the importance of holding schools and universities accountable for bullying, arguing that such institutions should be liable if they fail to take adequate measures and provide a safe space.

“When bullying escalates to harassment or physical harm, it crosses the line from a disciplinary issue to a criminal one. Recognising bullying as a crime can push schools and authorities to act more decisively,” she said.

“Effective anti-bullying measures must hold institutions accountable if they fail to protect victims. Only by enacting anti-bullying laws and treating severe cases as criminal acts can we make headway in addressing this issue.”

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is scheduled to visit the UPNM campus in Sungai Besi tomorrow for his “Temu Anwar” programme, which is a series of dialogue sessions aimed at providing the youth with an opportunity to engage with Anwar.

It is understood that the event at UPNM had been scheduled before the incident, which is believed to have been uncovered after an instructor noticed signs of injury on the cadet’s body during a routine inspection. - FMT

Stop talking about camps in Bersatu, says Mas Ermieyati

 

Masjid Tanah MP Mas Ermieyati Samsudin was named the new Wanita Bersatu chief on Monday after its incumbent, Rina Harun, decided not to defend the post.

PETALING JAYA: 

Wanita Bersatu chief Mas Ermieyati Samsudin has called for a stop to the practice of labelling leaders within Bersatu as being from different camps.

She said such views created a negative perception of Bersatu, hindered efforts to strengthen unity among its leadership and grassroots members, and threatened the party’s survival, reported Berita Harian.

The Masjid Tanah MP also expressed regret at being associated with Bersatu leaders under secretary-general Hamzah Zainudin’s camp.

“This perception needs to be corrected … I am not from Hamzah Zainudin’s camp; I am from the party,” she said.

“Labels like this are unfair, not just to me but to any other leader. If we love the party, we shouldn’t label each other in such a way. This is also a reminder for myself.

“After the party polls, we should turn over a new leaf so that everyone can collaborate well, with open hearts … without negative perceptions.”

There are rumours of two camps in Bersatu, one aligned with Hamzah and the other aligned with Selangor Bersatu chief Azmin Ali.

The recent election results for the Bersatu Youth, Wanita, and Wanita Youth wings were said to be influenced by these two camps.

Mas Ermieyati, who is also the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, was named the new Wanita chief on Monday after its incumbent, Rina Harun, decided not to defend the post.

In July, Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin was reportedly given the mandate by the Supreme Council to hold negotiations among party leaders to stave off any cracks in the leadership.

He will remain at the party’s helm, aided by Hamzah as deputy president, with Ronald Kiandee, Radzi Jidin and Ahmad Faizal Azumu slated to take the three vice-president’s posts.

The nominations confirmed early this month saw Muhyiddin and Hamzah take the top two spots unchallenged, while six candidates – Kiandee, Radzi, Faizal, Selangor Bersatu deputy chief Rafiq Abdullah, Bersatu information chief Razali Idris and Batu Kawan Bersatu chief Aziss Zainal Abiddin – are in the running for the three vice-president’s posts.

Azmin is expected to replace Hamzah as secretary-general. - FMT

Bullying: Asyraf Wajdi issues stern warning - 'You touch, you go!'

 

Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara) chairman, Datuk Dr Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki, has expressed disappointment over allegations of abuse among students at a public higher education institution. - NSTP/NIK ABDULLAH NIK OMAR

KUALA LUMPUR: Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara) chairman, Datuk Dr Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki, has expressed disappointment over allegations of abuse among students at a public higher education institution.

He said that he will not tolerate any party involved in acts of bullying.

Asyraf also issued a warning that if such incidents occur within Mara Educational Institutions, the strictest action will be taken.

"There's been no lesson learned from past cases that led to tragic deaths. If it happens at any Mara institution, including MRSM, there will be no compromise.

"I've made my stance clear: 'You touch, you go!' (No tolerance for bullying.) There's no need to meet me for appeals or sympathy as reminders have been given repeatedly," he said in a Facebook post today.

Earlier, the Malaysian Armed Forces (ATM) announced an investigation into the alleged bullying and abuse of a cadet officer at the Military Training Academy (ALK), Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (UPNM), Sungai Besi.

When contacted, the Armed Forces chief General Tan Sri Mohammad Ab Rahman confirmed that a detailed investigation is underway.

Yesterday, the ATM released a statement confirming an incident involving a cadet who was allegedly burned on the chest with an iron by a senior, leaving burn marks, as reported on social media.

The ATM also noted that disciplinary action and legal measures would be taken against those found guilty.

In 2017, the country was shaken by the tragic death of UPNM cadet officer Zulfarhan Osman Zulkarnain, who was severely burned repeatedly with a steam iron.

As a result, six former UPNM students were sentenced to death by hanging by the Court of Appeal on July 23 after being found guilty of the crime. - NST

Six, including 2 children, trapped in lift freed using duplicate key

 

A duplicate key had to be used to free six people, including two children, trapped in a lift that suddenly malfunctioned today. File pic

KUALA TERENGGANU: A duplicate key had to be used to free six people, including two children, trapped in a lift that suddenly malfunctioned today.

The incident took place at the Ladang Tanjung apartments here at around 11.50am.

Jalan Kota Fire and Rescue Station chief, Senior Assistant Fire Officer (PKPgB) Yahaya Hanapi @ Nasir, said two units, including an ambulance, were dispatched after receiving an emergency call about six apartment residents trapped in a lift around 12.03pm.

He said that they had to use a duplicate key to open the lift doors on the third floor and free the six occupants, including a married couple.

"The trapped individuals included two adult men aged between 31 and 40, two women aged 39 and 40, and two children, a boy and a girl, aged between six and 10.

"They were travelling in the lift from the third floor of the 30-storey building to the ground floor," he said when contacted today.

Yahaya further explained that no injuries were reported among the six individuals who were trapped for around 30 minutes.

"There was no damage to the lift doors as we did not use any tools to pry them open.

"We had to use the duplicate key, which was brought by the operation leader, to open the lift doors and free the trapped occupants," he said.

It was understood that during the incident, the building supervisor was not on-site and had not left the lift door duplicate key in the emergency box. - NST

You’re our past, not our future, Sarawak activist reminds Dr Mahathir

 

SARAWAK rights activist Peter John Jaban has chided former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad over his comment that Sarawak should help poorer states in Malaysia as it is now a high-income state.

The Saya Anak Sarawak (SAS) founder said the elderly statesman continues to display a lack of regard for a federalised system – the same lack of regard which sidelined the Borneo states and their culture during his tenure that had directly led to the autonomy movement now shaping the country today.

“Dr Mahathir is indeed the architect of modern Malaysia. He has always been a centralist and, throughout his tenure as prime minister, continually advocated for control under a single authority, namely his own,” Peter John said in a statement on Thursday (Oct 31).

“Unfortunately, it seems like the wisdom and experience of increasing age has not changed this. Given his history, it is not surprising that Tun does not seem to understand the wishes of Sabah and Sarawak to have greater control over our own resources than his government allowed.”

Peter John pointed out that Dr Mahathir’s name dominated Malaysian politics for decades and there is no doubt as to his transformative effects on the nation but to achieve this, the 99-year-old politician had consistently “diverted development funds from the Borneo states to peninsular Malaysia”.

“We in the Borneo states actually believe that the twin towers of the Petronas building should be named ‘Sabah and Sarawak’, in recognition of the role our resources have played in building this nation,” the Sarawak Association for People’s Aspirations (SAPA) publicity and information chief remarked.

“At the age of 99, it seems Dr Mahathir is now seeking to shift the burden for his failures onto the very people sidelined during his time in office.

“In fact, Sarawak has achieved high income status despite his policies, not because of them. But now the reality is laid bare. His mega projects – Cyberjaya, Langkawi, the Petronas Twin Towers, Sepang International Circuit and other costly ventures – have only benefited a select few, leaving some of the other states across Malaya to fend for themselves, just as Sarawak and Sabah have had to.”

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad (Image: Getty Images)

While acknowledging that Sarawak is happy to contribute to the federal coffers through proper channels, Peter John expressed hope that the Madani government under Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s leadership will be better at equitable allocation than Dr Mahathir was.

He said while Sarawak is a high-income state, its infrastructure, all under the aegis of the federal government, remains “woefully underfunded”, adding that schools, hospitals, roads and education require investment.

“Sarawak has worked hard to get to where it is and, as we have been taught under his tenure, we will now look to ourselves to achieve this,” he stressed.

“After years of being treated as the ‘stepchildren’ of Malaysia, the Borneo states are finally standing on their own two feet.

“We hope that Dr Mahathir will stay at home to digest just how the states he dubbed as lazy, slow and greedy as recently as 2018 have pulled off this transformation.

“We hope that all our policymakers do the same. Perhaps then they will start to see that strong leaders in a properly federalised system of government, which respects the role of each state, might be the future of this nation instead of the racially-based, centralised system currently in place. So, stop asking from us.” – Focus Malaysia

The China flag waving kerfuffle: A case of confusion between the Overseas Chinese, Mainland Chinese

 

I THINK the Keluar Sekejap podcast’s co-host Shahril Hamdan’s view about the waving of the Chinese flag incident during a parade in Perak recently is the most accurate description of what this storm in the teacup is all about.

When Khairy Jamaluddin, Shahril’s co-host, expressed his bewilderment at how big a fuss the incident whereby a group of Chinese citizens waved China’s national  flag during a parade in Teluk Intan last week has become, the former UMNO information chief opined that the fuss might have nothing to do with China at all.

“This is a sensitive topic but it may be because Malaysian Chinese are seen by some Malays as being a political and economic threat,” observed the former UMNO Youth deputy chief.

“So even if China is not the target (of animosity), these internal worries (by Malays) are being projected onto China.”

I 100% percent agree with Shahril’s view for I have always wonder why there is problem with the waving of the Chinese flag but not the Thai or Vietnamese  flags which were also waved during the cultural parade.

To put int in another perspective, why the police have taken no action against the tens of thousands of Malaysians for waving the Palestinian flag for but have swiftly called in to record the statements from 17 Chinese nationals involved in the Chinese flag waving incident.

Display of pride

For me, this entire kerfuffle is just another episode in the never-ending passive aggressive squabbles that the local Malays and the local non-Malays have been having for longer than I have been alive.

Overly praising a person from another race for doing something ordinary like visiting their place of worship or wearing their clothes or learning to speak their language or criticising their own race is one example.

Complaining excessively about such things like child grooming or alcohol availability – more with the aim of putting down another race than because they are truly concerned about the problem – is another example.

In this long list of ways to piss off another race with the aim of making them “makan dalam” or die on the inside, the waving of the Chinese flag in Teluk Intan is likely just another entry.

Like Shahril said, this kerfuffle might simply be happening because the local Chinese and the local Malays might be conflating the identity of a mainland Chinese and local Chinese.

As China flexes its muscle in the South China Seas, some local Chinese who identify with China on the basis of a common cultural and racial background, might take pride in China’s show of strength.

On the contrary, the local Malays might be re-acting negatively towards the display of pride by the mainland Chinese simply because they are equating it with the display of pride by the local Chinese.

Now these exhibits of passive aggressive micro-aggression that the local Chinese and the local Malays are displaying against each other might not be new to us but the problem is that it might be new to China.

We don’t know how China is going to interpret the problem of micro-aggression between local Malays and local Chinese having been dragged into the fray.

Let’s not annoy China further

No matter how much we quarrel with each other, we cannot be so careless as to drag a superpower like China into it. When two mousedeer from the same herd are quarrelling with each other, they might get so absorbed with their quarrel that they might not realise that they are annoying a dragon.

China is likely already in an irritable mood these days. It has a looming problem with the West which is giving it a major military and economic headache.

This is a time for us to be extra careful about our gestures and expressions towards China. The last thing we need at the moment is to upset the already edgy China with our carelessness.

The leadership of China, by the way, is famous for having a long memory. Until today, every time there is a new ambassador from China posted to Malaysia, he will pay a visit to the family of Tun Razak who was the first Malaysian prime minister to normalise diplomatic relationship with China some 50 years ago.

The way I see it, if Iran and Israel take the warpath, the Americans will commit to join the war in the Middle East, and if the Americans are bogged down in the Middle East, China will take the opportunity to establish itself as the hegemon of the South China Sea.

Taking that into consideration, why should we behave in a way that will likely cause China to take umbrage against us – just because we want to lash out against each other.

After all, the Overseas Chinese which is the category that our local Chinese belong to, and the Communist Chinese or the Mainland Chinese are not only different from each other but they might also be antagonistic towards each other. – Focus Malaysia

Nehru Sathiamoorthy is a roving tutor who loves politics, philosophy and psychology.

The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of  MMKtT.

- Focus Malaysia.