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Another week, another horror story - this time, a religious school teacher allegedly ordered two female students to undress as “punishment.”
Let that sink in: undress. As punishment. In a school that parents trusted because it was supposed to be moral, disciplined, and God-fearing.
And as shocking as this case is… what’s even more disturbing is how familiar this pattern feels. Because when you start looking, you’ll realise religious schools have been a hotspot for sexual abuse.
We’ve had cases of teachers preying on students, ustaz abusing their power, warden and hostel workers exploiting the system, and staff members in tahfiz institutions committing acts that would disgust any decent person.
And just when you think it cannot get worse, you scroll a little further and see reports of celebrity preachers, penceramah bebas, imams and so-called “spiritual leaders” being investigated for sexual assault, grooming, and rape.
It’s no longer just an isolated bad apple. It’s starting to feel like an orchard rotting slowly, quietly, and systematically.
So we need to ask a hard, uncomfortable question: What is it about religious men that seems to make them more likely to be caught as sexual predators?
Not “men of religion”, not “religious institutions”, but specifically religious men - because the pattern is right there, in front of us, repeating itself like a sermon no one asked for.
And while we’re being honest, let’s talk about Kelantan - the state often hailed as the blueprint of religious purity. With strict moral policing, gender segregation, and an endless parade of “Islamic values” campaigns, you'd expect the most disciplined, self-controlled community in the country.
Instead, reports show Kelantan topping the list as one of states with highest sexual crime cases. Kelantan is also leading the way with the highest child sexual abuse cases in the country.
How do you preach moral superiority by day, then secretly top sex crime rates and child sexual abuse charts by night? Something clearly isn’t adding up.
Could it be that extreme religious constraints create sexual suppression?
When normal, healthy desire is treated as a sin instead of a human function, does that pressure eventually leak, or explode in dangerous, harmful ways?
If you lock up a basic human need and teach people to feel shame for even thinking about it, where does that energy go? For some, it becomes guilt. For others, it turns into secret double lives. And for an alarming number, it manifests as predatory behaviour against the most vulnerable.
This isn’t an attack on religion. It’s a critique of a system that refuses to talk honestly about sexuality, creates a culture of shame, and then acts shocked when the pressure cooker bursts.
Until we accept that everyone - religious or not - has real physical needs and urges, and that these must be addressed openly, safely, and responsibly, the same scandals will keep happening. Religious leaders need to stop tiptoeing around the subject and actually talk about it.
If religion truly teaches morality, then religious communities must have the courage to face the predators hiding in their own backyard. Silence and denial won’t make anyone holier - it just lets the problem breed.
Fa Abdul (fa.abdul.penang@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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