MalayMail-Dec 3
Malaysia today made history when the Dewan Rakyat passed the Anti-Bullying Bill 2025 towards making schools safer. The bill, which aims to provide for a specific mechanism to address complaints, prevent and manage bullying cases in educational institutions and other institutions, was passed with a majority of votes in favor. It also provides for the establishment of an Anti-Bullying Tribunal, which acts as a body with civil jurisdiction to hear and decide complaints related to bullying cases. Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said, when winding up the debate on the bill, said for now, the law will apply to those aged 18 and below. Azalina said that through the bill, the tribunal can issue an order for the respondent, or for the child respondent, parent, father or guardian, to pay compensation or damages not exceeding RM250,000 for any loss or damage suffered by the victim as a result of bullying. She said the approach is preventive in nature because responsibility for children’s behavior cannot be placed entirely on the school or teacher. In addition, Azalina said the bill also allows the tribunal to order parents or guardians to attend counselling or parenting support sessions with the child respondent provided by government agencies, as another preventive approach. Earlier, when tabling the bill for the second reading, Azalina said that statistics from the Ministry of Education’s Student Identity System showed that since 2019, an average of more than 14,000 bullying cases were reported each year in primary and secondary schools.
