MOE did not take action on abuse, misconduct cases, court told

(Editor's note: This article has been updated to reflect the statements made in court more accurately.)

The Education Ministry did not take action until the minister’s office intervened in cases of child and sexual abuse as well as financial misconduct involving billions of ringgit, a former aide to ex-education minister Maszlee Malik told the High Court in Kota Kinabalu on Tuesday.

Former ministerial aide Shaza Scherazade Alauddin Onn said this when testifying in Siti Nafirah Siman’s landmark teacher absenteeism suit against the government.

“In the sexual abuse case, despite clear ministry guidelines, regulations and child protection laws requiring teachers to report such incidents to the police, no action was taken by the teachers or the headmaster.

“In the case of a mentally disabled student who was physically abused, the case was investigated and found to be true. The only course of action taken was to transfer the teacher instead of reporting the matter to the police,” she testified.

The court also heard that no action was taken to protect the child until the minister’s office intervened, and that only light disciplinary measures were taken against the counselling teachers and the headmaster for their lack of appropriate action.

Citing financial misconduct, Shaza said, “There was a big case involving billions of ringgit whereby a contract was lost on the ministry’s end. No action, to my knowledge, was taken against the officers responsible for that contract.”

Shaza's revelation of past cases was in response to whether it was a norm in the ministry not to take action against teachers who had admitted to backdating formal or official documents, in reference to the teacher absenteeism case.

“Backdating official documents is very specific, but if I were to broaden it to whether it was a norm for the ministry not to institute appropriate disciplinary action for proven misconduct, then I would say I witnessed several instances where no action was taken or where the action taken was not appropriate,” she said.

She added that, as a special officer, she often had to step in because the ministry fell short of what the minister expected, ensuring the final outcome matched the minister’s directives.

Shaza’s testimony illustrates how the ministry’s handling of teacher absenteeism and other misconduct cases reflected broader administrative weaknesses and inaction across the system.

“During my tenure, I did not come to learn of any disciplinary action taken against Cikgu JJ (Jainal Jamran),” said Shaza.

Pattern of unchecked absenteeism

When she filed it in 2018, Siti Nafirah’s suit was a flagship move to demand “clean education” and institutional reform.

A related suit brought in 2020 by her juniors succeeded in 2023 - the High Court in Kota Kinabalu awarded RM150,000 in damages, and no appeal was filed within the limitation period, effectively cementing the judgment.

Like Siti Nafirah, the three girls in the second suit named their former English teacher, Jainal Jamran of SMK Taun Gusi in Kota Belud, as the first respondent for skipping class for seven months - reflecting a pattern of absenteeism the headmaster failed to curb.

The headmaster Suid Hanapi is the second respondent in both cases, while Siti Nafirah’s suit also names the Kota Belud district education officer, the Sabah education director-general, the director-general of education, the Education Ministry, and the government as defendants.

Siti Nafirah’s case was paused when the presiding judge, Justice Ismail Brahim, was elevated to the Court of Appeal, but he has since returned to preside over this case, resuming with a three-day proceeding.

In the concluded case, a teacher who reported Jainal testified that the latter retaliated with a threat to his life in Bajau: “Jogo kam, pepatai ku kam” (“Watch out, I’m going to kill you both”).

It was also revealed in that case that the teacher did not teach but leaked examination questions instead.

‘Garang’ familial interrogator

Shaza testified that after a briefing with Syafida, who was then special officer to education director-general Amin Senin, she was initially confident the case would be investigated thoroughly, given Syafida’s background in the Inspectorate and Quality Assurance Division - a post better known in the ministry as “Nazir”.

However, doubts emerged when it became known that Sabah education department director Maimunah Suhaibul had a close familial connection to the accused teacher, Jainal - a conflict of interest that was also flagged by NEAC member Noor Azimah Abd Rahim.

Shaza added that when she raised this with Syafida, the officer assured her that Maimunah had been firm in questioning her cousin, Jainal.

“Syafida mentioned that she (Maimunah) was quite ‘garang’ (fierce) in her interrogation of Mr JJ (Jainal).

“I think she said that to assure me that Maimunah was conducting the investigation well,” Shaza testified.

Before Shaza left her post with the ministry, Maimunah had been promoted to Head of Teaching Professionalism.

Backdated show-cause letter

Shaza also testified that she witnessed a conversation between Syafida and the headmaster, during which he repeatedly admitted to backdating the show-cause letter issued to Jainal over his absenteeism.

“He did not give a clear reason. He just kept saying it was his fault - something like ‘ini kelemahan saya’ (this was a weakness on my part),” she told the court.

Shaza explained that in this instance, Syafida was referring to two admissions by the headmaster: first, his failure to manage Jainalʼs prolonged absenteeism despite being responsible for teacher supervision; and second, his acknowledgement that the show cause letter had been backdated - both of which he conceded were his own failings.

In 2023, Siti Nafirah testified that she and her classmates were forced by Suid to write a letter persuading Jainal to return.

“The principal said this is your ‘surat aku janji’ (letter of undertaking) where you apologise to the teacher and ask him to come back and teach the class again,” Siti Nafirah testified.

When examined by her lawyer, Siti Nafirah said the letter was false but had to be written under duress because they needed an English teacher for the upcoming final examination.

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