25/12/2025

THURSDAY | DEC 25, 2025

11

COMMENT by Galvin Lee Kuan Sian

Reporting crux of fight against bullying M OST schools already know how to say the right things about bullying. We have assemblies. We have If any link in that chain breaks, students notice. They talk and they stop reporting.

The Bill introduces a new route for redress through a tribunal. The Malaysian Bar welcomed the Bill and highlighted that the tribunal can address complaints, award compensation up to RM250,000, and include rehabilitative elements such as counselling or parenting support orders in suitable cases. The Bill also includes a plan to establish an Anti Bullying Tribunal with jurisdiction to hear and decide on bullying complaints, with details set out in the Bill. This should not be read as a call to punish children harder. It should be read as a message to institutions. Bullying is not a minor discipline issue that can be buried. It is harm with consequences, and there must be accountability when systems fail to respond. Still, laws do not protect students by themselves. Implementation does. If Malaysia wants this legislation to succeed, we should treat school reporting as a core function, on the same level as attendance and examination administration. There are a few practical principles that can lift trust without turning schools into courtrooms. First, reporting must be easy. Students should have more than one safe way to report, including a trusted teacher, a counsellor and a confidential channel that does not require them to be brave in public. Second, response must be consistent. The public loses trust when similar incidents are handled very differently depending on which school it is, which family is involved or which teacher receives the report. Consistency does not mean every case receives the same punishment. It means every case gets the same seriousness and the same minimum standard of action. Third, protection must be real. If a student reports something and then faces revenge through rumours, social media harassment or exclusion, the message that reporting makes life worse spreads quickly.

posters. We have slogans about kind ness. Yet bullying persists because the hardest part has never been aware ness. The hardest part is what hap pens after a child decides to speak up. That is why the Anti-Bullying Bill matters. The Parliament has now moved to create a specific legal mechanism to address bullying complaints and manage cases in educational settings. The Bill passed the Dewan Rakyat on Dec 3, 2025 and later passed the Dewan Negara on Dec 16, 2025. At first glance, that may sound like a technical reform. In reality, it is a cultural reform. It changes what schools can no longer do. They can no longer treat a report as optional, inconvenient or too small to matter. During the Senate debate, the minister explained that the Bill is meant to legally require educational institutions to accept all bullying reports, including isolated incidents. This point is more powerful than it looks. Many victims do not stay silent because they do not know bullying is wrong. They stay silent because they think the system will not protect them. They have heard the familiar lines. It was just teasing. It happened once. There is no proof. Do not make it bigger. If adults respond like that, a child learns a dangerous lesson: Reporting is pointless and risky. So, the real question is not whether we can create new campaigns. The real question is whether we can build a reporting system that students trust. A reporting system is not simply a form. It is a chain of decisions. Who receives the report. How fast the school responds. How the report is recorded. Whether the student is protected from retaliation. Whether the alleged bully is addressed fairly. Whether the school communicates with parents in a calm and consistent way. Whether follow-up happens after the first meeting, not just during the public spotlight.

Bullying persists because the hardest part has never been awareness but what happens after a child decides to speak up. – AI-GENERATED IMAGE BY AZURA ABAS

grounded in self-awareness and purpose are more likely to endure. They reflect who we aspire to become and how we intend to live with greater integrity, compassion and responsibility in the coming year. In embracing rejoice, reflect, reconcile and resolve, we transform the year’s end into a meaningful rite of passage. These practices help us honour the past, heal the present and shape the future. As one year closes and another begins, may we step forward not merely older, but wiser, kinder and more hopeful than before. Liong Kam Chong Seremban Headlines come and go. Posters multiply. Then the reporting experience remains confusing and intimidating, and silence returns. Malaysia has taken an important step by passing the Anti-Bullying Bill 2025. The next step is less glamorous, but it is the one that will decide everything. Build reporting systems that are simple, dependable and protective. When students trust the system, bullying loses its greatest weapon, which is silence. GalvinLee Kuan Sian is a lecturer and programme coordinator in Business Studies at a private college in Malaysia and a PhD candidate and researcher in marketing at Universiti Malaya. Comments: letters@thesundaily.com

for Malaysia. This Bill currently focuses on those under 18, and some reporting suggests the government may later study extending the scope to adults after assessing effectiveness. That is intuitive, as a new system must first work where the need is most urgent. But it also signals something bigger, that bullying is not confined to schools. It is a behavioural pattern that can continue in colleges, workplaces and online spaces if we normalise silence early. If we get implementation right, the change will not be loud. It will be quiet. More students will report earlier. More adults will respond consistently. More harm will be stopped before it escalates. That is what safety looks like in real life. If we get it wrong, we will repeat a familiar cycle. A law is passed.

Anti-retaliation safeguards are not optional if we want early reporting. Fourth, the goal should be early intervention, not escalation. When the system accepts isolated incidents, it does not mean every small incident becomes a crisis. It means small harm is taken seriously before it becomes big harm. That is prevention in its most practical form. Fifth, schools should be transparent in a way that protects students. This transparency should not be achieved through public naming, but rather through basic reporting on patterns and responses. When parents and communities can see that reports are received, tracked and acted on, confidence grows. When everything is hidden, rumours grow faster than facts. There is also a wider lesson here

LETTERS letters@thesundaily.com

Transforming year-end into meaningful rite of passage AS we approach the close of 2025, we are given a valuable opportunity to pause amid the busyness of life and take stock of our journey. Rejoicing does not deny pain or struggles; rather it acknowledges that even in difficult seasons, there are reasons to be thankful. We rejoice in achievements reached, lessons uncomfortable truths about ourselves. Reflection helps us recognise patterns – both good and harmful – and understand how we have grown and stagnated. and extend grace to others and ourselves.

It involves letting go of resentment and choosing peace over pride. While reconciliation may not always lead to restored relationships, the willingness to forgive frees the heart from bitterness. It brings closure to the past and allows us to move forward unburdened by unresolved anger or regret. Finally, we are invited to resolve. Resolution is not merely about making ambitious promises but about setting intentional and realistic commitments for growth. Having rejoiced, reflected and reconciled, we are better equipped to look ahead with hope. Resolutions

The turning of a year is more than a change of dates on a calendar; it is an invitation to look back with honesty, look inward with humility and look ahead with hope. By embracing four simple but powerful practices – rejoice, reflect, reconcile and resolve – we can bring deeper meaning to the year’s end and prepare ourselves for a more purposeful future. To rejoice is to begin with gratitude. Every year, regardless of its challenges, carries moments of joy, growth and quiet blessings.

Through thoughtful reflection, we gain wisdom, learning not only from our mistakes but also from our successes. It is in reflection that experience becomes insight and memory becomes guidance for the future. Reconciliation is perhaps the most challenging yet healing practice. Throughout the year, misunderstandings, conflicts and unspoken hurts may have accumulated. Reconciliation calls us to mend broken relationships, seek forgiveness

learned, relationships strengthened and even in trials that have shaped our character. Gratitude lifts our perspective from what was lacking to what was given, nurturing contentment and reminding us that life is not defined solely by success or failure but by grace along the way. Reflection follows rejoicing. To reflect is to look back honestly at our choices, attitudes and actions. It requires humility to admit where we fell short and courage to face