COMMENT | It takes a village to raise a bully

COMMENT | Bullying is once again in the spotlight after the death of Zara Qairina Mahathir. Still, it wasn’t that long ago that Zulfarhan Osman Zulkarnain, Muqriz Aseri, J Soosaimanickkam, and T Nhaveen dominated the headlines.

These high-profile cases seem to be the tip of the bullying iceberg, with the saving grace being that we’re now in the age of the internet and social media, which makes cases going unnoticed much less likely.

Every time a child is bullied to death or survives with grievous injury, the usual theatrical performance follows.

Politicians call for heads to roll and play the blame game, stakeholders propose numerous reforms and initiatives to curb bullying, while the people learn the brutal details of the case being spread through social media like some sort of morbid entertainment.

But after all the hoo-ha, nothing changes. I hope, years down the road, we won’t be seeing the same pattern repeating itself, but I’m not holding my breath.

Throughout all this, I’ve heard some people going: “Kids are crazy these days! What is going on with society?”

It would be easy to blame the internet, social media, poor parenting, etc, but I suspect our children are merely learning from us, the adults.

As the saying goes, it takes a village to raise a child, and this village is filled with bullies willing to burn the world down at the drop of a hat.

Some of them are even in leadership positions in politics, government, large corporations, and society at large. Just give them an excuse, any excuse, and watch them run amok.

Akmal’s antics

Several people fit the description above, not least Umno Youth chief Dr Akmal Saleh. It’s not only him, but he’s the most egregious offender, by far.

Where do we start? His barely concealed racist rhetoric? His blatant disregard of the law? His reckless rage-baiting, consequences be damned? His shameless disrespect and name-calling?

He has escalated relatively minor issues nearly into full-blown national crises several times now. First, the “Allah” socks sold in KK Mart, then the halal certification issue, and now the erroneous display of the Jalur Gemilang.

Many have called him out for “acting the hero”, but that’s a mischaracterisation; heroes punch up against the powerful while defending the weak. Akmal does nothing but punch down from a position of power; that’s called bullying.

Just like any other bully, Akmal does what he does because he thinks he can get away with it.

He may be charged in court soon, but will the case turn into a real deterrent warning other politicians against stoking the flames of race and religion, or will it just be another slap on the wrist, like history has shown us?

Racial and religious issue exploitation

But it’s not only Akmal; Umno Youth has been led by similar personalities throughout its history, and their relentless punching down was done with the tacit or explicit approval of the party’s top echelons - especially during its heyday.

Besides Umno, PAS and Bersatu’s youth wings are equally guilty of exploiting racial and religious issues. Just give them an excuse, and they’ll punch down along with Umno while the party elders nod in approval.

On the other side of the racial divide, the youth wings of minority-based parties don’t fare much better as far as their conduct is concerned.

While they mostly don’t play the race card or play it differently, a similar street-fighter behaviour can be observed. They fight among themselves and even punch down against fringe parties like Muda and PSM; anything to please their political masters.

I don’t remember ever hearing any of our political leaders going, “I disagree, but I understand where you’re coming from. Let’s talk this out.” Any disagreement must be squashed with force and fury.

Kids are watching

While all the above is going on, our kids are watching. As an Asian society, the typical values we inculcate in our children are to respect your elders, learn from their wisdom, and venerate our political leaders and higher authorities.

What happens when someone like Akmal occupies the youth leadership position of one of Malaysia's founding, grand old parties, and the prime minister refuses to call him out on his behaviour?

Perhaps, the result is that children would start thinking that might makes right, and any disagreements can be resolved by bullying their opponents into submission.

The lesson they are learning is that the strong get to punch down against the weak, and there’s nothing the weak can do about it.

Then, is it any surprise that nobody knows how to act with kindness, compassion, and grace anymore?

LEE CHOON FAI is a member of the Malaysiakini team.

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