By Sam Trailerman
Before that, it is alleged she told people. She complained. She said she was being bullied at SMK Danau Kota. Not just by kids, but allegedly by teachers too. The adults who are paid to protect her.
And now we are doing what we always do. We post. We share. We type "RIP" and "Justice" and wait for the next one.
How long are we going to do this? How many more kids have to die before we stop pretending we have a system?
For a common man, a father, a mother who sends their kids to a government school every morning and prays they will come back in one piece, not just physically, but mentally. And they tired.
We tell our children, "Go to school, study hard, and respect your teachers." But what happens when the school is the place that breaks them? What happens when the teacher, the supposed second mother or father in school, is the one who allegedly joins in the torment? Where does a 14-year-old go then? To the discipline teacher? To the principal? To the complaint box that nobody opens?
If there were complaints before - and people are saying there were - then this is not just a tragedy. This is a failure. A deliberate, bureaucratic, file-closed, "we will investigate" kind of failure. Every time a child says "Cikgu, saya kena buli," and the answer is "Ala, budak-budak biasalah," we are laying one more brick for the next funeral.
This MUST be investigated. Not the usual way. Not with an internal committee that investigates itself and finds itself innocent. Thoroughly, transparently, independently. If a teacher is guilty, take action. If a student is guilty, take action. If the administration knew and did nothing, take action. No cable, no union card, no "image of the school" should protect anyone.
A school is supposed to be safe. That line has become so cheap now. We print it on banners while the kid in the back row is living in fear every single day.
Read that again. A 14-year-old child. Not a politician. Not an activist. A child who should be worrying about her BM homework felt that her own country hated her for who she is.
We cannot just dismiss that as teenage angst. That sentence did not fall from the sky. What did she see? What did she hear in class? On the field? In the group chat? What kind of casual racism has become so normal in our schools that a child absorbs it as truth - which she does not belong here?
This is not about pointing fingers at one race against another. This is about us. We have allowed a culture where insulting someone's race, religion, skin color is content. It's a joke. It's a TikTok trend. And our kids are watching.
Now, to our highly esteemed Education Minister.
Yang Berhormat, with all due respect, how many more press statements with the words "We take bullying seriously" and "Will not compromise" do we need to print before something serious actually happens? Your ministry has more anti-bullying circulars, guidelines, and awareness campaigns than our schools have working toilets. Yet the same story repeats. Complaint made. No action. Child suffers. Tragedy happens. Committee formed. Repeat.
Perhaps it is time to stop launching new taglines and start making sure every complaint from a child is logged, tracked, and acted upon within 24 hours. Make the principals personally accountable. Make it a sack able offence if a bullying report is buried. That is enforcement. Not a poster.
And to our dear PMX, our Prime Minister who speaks so beautifully about MADANI, about values, about humanity and compassion.
PMX, your MADANI concept is lovely on stage. But down here, on the ground, in a Form 2 classroom in Danau Kota, a child apparently felt her country was racist. So where is the MADANI for her? When we are so quick to use the 3R - Race, Religion, Royalty - law to silence politicians and the general public insulting each other, can we be just as quick, just as firm, when a child is discriminated against because of her race in a government school?
How can you preach unity in Putrajaya while disunity might be “Duri Dalam Daging” (thorn in the flesh) in our Sekolah Kebangsaan. Is it possible to talk about reforming the nation if you cannot even reform the discipline room.
This is not the time to blame each other. The parents blame the teachers, the teachers blame the parents, and the ministry blames social media.
No. This is the time to act, once and for all.
We don't want another candlelight vigil. We don't want another hash tag. We want a system where a 14-year-old girl who says "I am scared to go to school" is heard the first time. Not after she is gone.
Because if a child no longer feels safe in her school, and no longer feels she belongs in her own country, then we have all failed her. All of us.
And that failure is on our hands.
Nganasegaran (tapessam@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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