DEWAN RAKYAT PASSES ANTI-BULLYING BILL 2025 FOR SAFER SCHOOLS

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 3 (Bernama) -- 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 favour.

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.

"I stand here (making) a commitment, if God permits, we will do it next year to see the effectiveness of this bill for those aged 18 and below and we will study for those aged 18 and above for 2026," he said.

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 behaviour cannot be placed entirely on the school or teacher.

"If parents know that they also have to pay compensation for irresponsible behaviour, I see this as a possibility of being seen as prevention," she said.

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.

She said the National Health and Morbidity Survey 2022 by the Ministry of Health showed that 8.6 per cent of students aged 13 to 17 who were victims had a threefold risk of experiencing depression or a tendency to self-harm.

Meanwhile, PDRM data recorded 160 cases of bullying, including physical bullying and online bullying, with 78 per cent of the victims being children aged 6 to 17 between August and October this year.

"Overall, these statistics confirm that schools are the main location for bullying incidents and children are the most exposed and vulnerable group," it said.

-- BERNAMA