The tragic death of 13-year-old Zara Qairina Mahathir was the last straw that broke the camel’s back, after a string of several deaths and injuries from bullying in schools, and educational establishments, throughout Malaysia.

In an unprecedented move, it was the courageous people of Sabah, in particular the youth, who led many rallies across the state, to highlight that enough was enough. Bullying in schools had to stop.

Shockingly, Fadhlina Sidek, the Minister of Education (MOE), failed to receive the memorandum urging reforms to address bullying, when the Sekretariat Solidariti Zara marched to parliament to meet her.

Cases of bullying in educational establishments range from physical assault, mental abuse, sexual harassment and rape. Many remain unresolved.

Education in Malaysia is a complex, multi-faceted issue and accountability will be addressed by the appropriate ministry, such as the Ministries of Education, or Higher Education or Defense (military universities). 

Religious schools come either under the state religious body or MOE.

After cases of bullying find its way into the media, the various ministries will issue statements that new guidelines will be issued to stop future bullying.

After the initial furor, we do not know if the revamped guidelines are effective, or whether the victims’ families have received justice.

Despite what the MOE has touted about being transparent and taking forceful action to curb previous cases of bullying, many believe that only lip service is given.

Claims of new improved guidelines cannot have been effective because new cases have emerged, the latest being Zara’s death.

Form One student, Zara was found unconscious in a drain below her school dormitory at 3 a.m., on 16 July. She was a boarder at a religious school, Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan agama (SMKA) Tun Datu Mustapha in Papar.

She was rushed to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital I in Kota Kinabalu, but died the following day after attempts to revive her failed.

Her parents were informed about their daughter’s apparent fall, by a school warden. They rushed to the hospital to be with their daughter.

Zara’s distraught mother, teacher Noraidah Larnat, told Borneo Post, on 1 August, that they were shocked by the presence of several officials including the police and school administrators, at the emergency ward lobby.

No child should predecease their parents and Zara’s untimely and mysterious death has only intensified the feelings of grief felt by her parents.

Two weeks after burying her child, Noraidah lodged a police report, on 1 August, as she was unhappy with the official findings and the claim that Zara had allegedly fallen to her death, from her dormitory on the third floor of the school hostel.

She requested Zara’s body be exhumed for an autopsy.

Following her daughter’s death, and having in her possession Zara’s phone and other personal items, the family lawyer said that there was a recorded telephone conversation where Zara revealed repeated harassment and/or bullying by several senior students.

In one such recording, Zara mentioned a person referred to as ‘Kak M’, who had explicitly threatened Zara, with the words, ‘If I touch you, you’ll bleed.’

This disturbing allegation of bullying and the fact that the official line was to declare that Zara had fallen from her dormitory on the third floor, has also prompted Zara’s family to demand an inquest to determine if criminal elements played a role in her death.

Noraidah had also said that Zara had reported being sexually harassed by a fellow student.

On 3 August, Noraidah filed a second police report, this time officially detailing the bruises she had seen on Zara’s back during the bathing ritual (mandi jenazah) to prepare her body for burial. She said that this detail had not been reported to the police at the time.

Noraidah also said that she only wanted the truth to emerge in her daughter’s death.

She is aware about the unverified claims on social media alleging that Zara had been bullied by senior students and that the school authorities had covered-up the allegations of bullying because it involved relatives of a “VIP.”

There are many unanswered questions.

A child falling to her death in the early hours of the morning and ending up in a drain three floors below should have been considered suspicious, and yet the police did not at the time, initiate an  investigation or demand a post-mortem.

It is also surprising that the hospital doctors and attending physicians did not alert the police to the injuries on Zara’s body, and to those bruises her mother had found on her back.

Zara shared a dormitory with other students. Did no-one hear or see anything?

Zara’s death was not natural, and yet the school, the education department, the police and doctors did not think it warranted further investigation.

If the police had been more diligent, had done their work and were switched-on, they would have treated Zara’s death as suspicious and her family need not be subjected to further ordeal involving the exhumation of her body.

Instead, police inaction led to allegations of a cover-up.

Did Zara jump or was she pushed?

Bullying leads to serious mental health issues and depression in the victim. Moreover, unchecked bullying may encourage the bully to become more violent with the perceived power that he wields over his victim.

Why did it take public outrage to prompt the police into doing its job?

(Mariam Mokhtar is a Freelance Writer.)