LETTER | It has been a week of crisis for Malaysians. In just three months after 13-year-old Zara Qairina Mahathir’s passing, tragedies in school have once again dominated the headlines.
Once seen as safe havens for learning and growth, schools now seem like dangerous grounds.
What is even more dangerous, however, is our refusal to confront the misogynistic nature behind these recent cases.
In the wake of these tragedies, some have called for stricter disciplinary measures in schools and, oddly enough, for the reintroduction of caning, in hopes of restoring safety on school grounds.
Yet, it is not the lack of discipline that led to gang rapes and murders. It is the lack of respect, and the invasion of toxic masculinity among young men in Malaysia.
The cases follow a chillingly clear pattern: females targeted by male violence. This wave of male violence is not confined to schools, sadly.
Across Malaysia and globally, femicides are on the rise. Toxic masculinity is seeping into our culture through TikTok videos and so-called influencers like Andrew Tate.
As a result, men intoxicated by these ideologies attempt to “reclaim” power - as if it were ever lost - by objectifying women and suppressing their own mental health struggles.
This dangerous mindset has thus culminated in the assaults and deaths we now mourn.
Systemic gender-based violence
We must name the problem to solve it. These tragedies are not disciplinary issues; they are acts of gender-based violence (GBV).
Only by acknowledging the gendered, misogynistic nature can we craft the right solution.
The truth is uncomfortable but clear: girls and women have long been put at a disadvantage in the country, and even more so now, when words like feminism and liberalism are flung around like insults.
To blame these incidents on the lack of discipline is not only missing the target, but also lazy.
Parents and politicians who attribute the problem to the discontinuation of corporal punishment are deflecting their responsibility to raise and educate their own children, while unfairly targeting the schools and teachers.
Femicide is a reflection of the deep-rooted patriarchy in our society. Misogyny and GBV are systemic, societal, and familial.
We cannot expect to solve this crisis while therapy remains taboo, while boys are told not to “cry like a girl”, or while media outlets sensationalise the murder as a “rejection story”.
Put it all on the table
We need to have honest conversations about mental health with boys and men. We need parents to take the responsibility for teaching their children about respect. We need to stop shying away from comprehensive sex education in schools.
What we do not need is to rotan our way out of the problems. Ignoring the gendered nature of these crimes and reverting to corporal punishment will deepen the wounds.
Fear-based discipline might offer the illusion of control, but it breeds resentment and diverts attention from the real issue. When that happens, history repeats itself.
We cannot afford more innocent lives to be the price of our denial. What we are going through is not a crisis of discipline. It is a crisis of gender-based violence. Speak the truth. Name the problem. And act now.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.
