By Lian Cheng
KUCHING, March 21: Sarawak police arrested 46 students comprising 41 boys and five girls in connection with bullying in 2020 while in 2021, they made four arrests involving two boys and two girls.
This was revealed by Women, Childhood and Community Wellbeing Development Minister Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah who pointed out that bullying in schools, including cyber bullying, is a concern.
As bullying may have detrimental impact on victims’ physical, emotional and mental health, she said it was viewed as a threat to the formation of social behaviour and wellbeing of youth in Sarawak.
A survey by the Social Development Committee conducted in 2019 for children aged under 18 who had dropped out from school showed that 30 per cent of them chose to leave school due to bullying.
Fatimah said the bullying included toying with, mocking, blackmailing, displaying obscene gestures, punching, and cursing at victims.
“In other words, bullying is abusing a weaker person by using one’s strength or through violence,” said Fatimah at a Social Development Committee meeting today.
She noted that victims of bullying would be subject to feeling depressed, lonely, anxious and have low self-esteem while some may experience physical symptoms such as headaches, stomachaches, fatigue and poor appetite.
“In some cases, victims disliked school, refused to go to school and exhibited learning impairment. But the most worrying part was when some of them thought of suicide and/or had attempted suicide,” said Fatimah.
Fatimah revealed among factors causing bullying was the characters of the perpetrators, including being egoistic and competitive, with tendencies to show off or have low self-esteem, and having issues with discipline. Some bullied because they felt challenged by peer pressure.
Bullying incidents also occurred because the perpetrators were victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse.
According to Fatimah, another situation which can lead to bullying is excessive joking as well as intense dislike towards individuals due to theft or revenge.
To address the issues of bullying including cyber bullying in Sarawak, Fatimah said the issue will be raised as a new focus for the Social Development Committee so that it can be addressed in an integrated and holistic manner through various programmes.
Social interventions including creating dialogues for awareness in the community and integrated interventions involving Social Development Committee strategic partners will also be implemented.
The Social Development Committee will also work with the police as well as Sarawak Education Department to conduct awareness campaigns on the issue. — DayakDaily
