Recent school violence cases in Malaysia reveal deep-rooted misogyny, toxic online influences, and education system failures requiring urgent reform
RECENTLY, a string of horrifying violence has plagued our schools, from the tragic death of Zara Qairina allegedly due to bullying and assault in Sabah, to gang rape cases in Kedah and Malacca.
Still reeling from grief, Malaysians were confronted with a juvenile crime so appalling it stunned the nation. On Oct 14, a 16-year-old girl was brutally stabbed around 200 times by a 14-year-old schoolmate, tragically ending her life.
How did we end up here?
On the surface, these incidents are often seen as the by-products of violent video games, anger management issues, mental illnesses or, as some netizens claim, a lack of disciplinary caning in schools. However, beneath that surface lies a troubling, unspoken epidemic: the persistence of misogynistic norms, bolstered by patriarchal practices, alongside a rigid and rote learning-centred education system.
Women as the “second sex” in patriarchal Malaysia?
Firstly, the recent cases revealed a disturbing pattern of gender-based aggression and misogyny among youths. Misogyny is the hatred of, contempt for or prejudice against women or girls. It has its roots in patriarchal society where men are positioned as the dominant gender and women seen as what French existential and feminist philosopher Simone de Beauvoir described as “the second sex” or the “other” sex, expected to be submissive, “inferior” and secondary.
It is not a hidden fact that Malaysia is still a patriarchal society. Violence against women is normalised, whether it is in the form of sexist jokes, victim-blaming, sexual assaults, rapes or even murder.
At home, we hear phrases such as “girls must do house chores. Don’t let your abang do it!” and “It’s okay, boys will be boys”.
Manifestations of misogynist behaviour are even seen among our lawmakers. In 2020 and 2022, the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry advised housewives to coddle their husbands with “cute-Doraemon voices” and suggested husbands to control their “unruly wives” with “gentle but firm physical touch”.
The gang rapes of schoolgirls are a manifestation of these deeply entrenched misogynist attitudes, where women and girls are objectified and treated as inferior.
And in the stabbing case, for example, it was reported to be linked to her rejecting the boy’s romantic advances, as evidenced by testimonials and the boy’s publicised handwritten note claiming, “I’m not wrong, but the world is. I love you, let’s leave this world together”.
This can be seen as a form of objectification, though less obvious than the gang rape cases, whereby a girl’s refusal or resistance is perceived as a challenge to male entitlement and control. It is noteworthy to realise that investigation is still under way and definitive conclusions cannot yet be drawn. No matter how charitable a view we ascribe to the perpetrator, the very act of stabbing the girl 200 times suggests there was something far darker at play: a combination of obsession, rage and a complete disregard for human life, likely rooted in a disturbing sense of ownership over another person’s autonomy.
The manosphere, norms and banking model of education
Beyond entrenched cultural norms, the rise of “manosphere” (a collection of internet content and communities promoting misogyny, toxic masculinity and anti-feminism) can be said to have amplified misogynistic attitudes among young men.
According to legal and crime expert R. Paneir Selvam, “Young boys, especially those feeling insecure or powerless, may adopt these views and imitate them in real life.”
He adds, “Teachers report boys repeating these ideas in school, showing growing disrespect towards girls.” The manosphere normalises violence against women by providing men with ideological justification for misogynistic behaviour, reinforcing the belief that women exist to serve male desires.
Beyond misogyny and manosphere, mental health and sexuality stigma can fester unchecked in the absence of safe environments that encourage open and critical discussions. This brings us to the our education system, which has long witnessed a persistent focus on rote learning – a model that Brazilian educator and philosopher Paulo Freire characterises as the “banking” style of education.
In this model of education, teachers and students form a hierarchical relationship, and the teacher “deposits” information into students as passive learners.
The consequences of this is the cultivation of a culture deprived of critical thinking, where harmful norms such as misogyny go unquestioned in society, as seen in the surge in misogynist social media content and even school boys threatening to replicate those violent incidents right after they happened.
Additionally, hierarchy and control are internalised and seen as natural, potentially reproducing these behaviours in the form of peer bullying.
Ironically, after all that happened, the Education Ministry announced its plan for a new “Pendidikan Karakter” (Character Education) subject, which purports to instil moral values in students but risks repeating the same top-down, rote-learning approach that has long failed our schools.
To make things worse, we see netizens chanting support for re-introducing rotan (caning) in schools. Isn’t this a perfect encapsulation of the very outcome a banking education system aims to produce – a culture that rewards obedience and discipline over dialogue and critical thinking?
The Columbine Effect
It is impossible to provide a complete analysis of these cases within the confines of this article, given the complexity of the underlying issues. However, an interesting perspective worth considering is also the potential influence of extremist subcultures on youth behaviour.
Munira Mustaffa, a consultant specialising in political violence from the Chasseur Group, has linked the Bandar Utama school stabbing case with the “Columbine effect.”
The Columbine Effect refers to the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School in the United States, which has inspired multiple copycat crimes and an extreme fandom culture that idolises perpetrators of school mass shootings. This extremist fringe group has amassed a following identifying themselves as the “Columbiners”.
Evidence was uncovered from the boy’s notes and knife carvings, both listing a string of names belonging to Columbiners. Among these names was his own declaration of hatred towards a society he believed “deserved to burn.” This too, can be seen as a lack of critical education where exposure to extremist ideas is not supplemented with the appropriate tools to question and think critically.
What’s next?
This wave of school violence cannot be attributed to the failings of any single individual or institution. When adequate critical thinking education is missing from schools, when society normalises hierarchical control and when digital spaces amplify toxic ideologies, responsibility becomes shared. Each instance of violence is a mirror held up to the nation, revealing the values we endorse, the behaviours we excuse and the inequalities we tolerate.
This is not to say that Pendidikan Karakter should be abandoned, but the subject needs to be paired with a pedagogy that emphasises critical thinking, empathy and ethical reasoning over rote memorisation.
Students should be encouraged to question harmful social norms, rather than merely reciting “correct” answers. One platform that embodies this approach is the Malaysian Philosophy Society’s flagship event on Nov 1, Live Love Labour Festival with the theme “Opting Out of Bullsht Norms.”
As a closing thought, a 2023 BBC Future feature on the origins of patriarchy notes that many pre-historical societies were matrilineal rather than patriarchal. These findings remind us that patriarchy is a social construct, like many norms, it can be challenged and reimagined with more equitable norms and values we instil in our youth today.
Dr Tee Chen Giap and Chew Zhun Yee are co-founders of the Malaysian Philosophy Society. Comments: [email protected]
