Suhakam calls for formation of dedicated anti-bullying portal

KUALA LUMPUR: A dedicated anti-bullying portal should be established to allow more efficient handling of reported bullying cases, says the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) and child rights advocates.

Suhakam children’s commissioner Dr Farah Nini Dusuki said the portal must be child-friendly, inclusive and integrate existing platforms.

“We need this anti-bullying portal. We cannot wait anymore,” she said during a briefing to MPs held in the Parliament building on Wednesday (Aug 20).

The briefing was organised by the Parliamentary Special Select Committee on Women, Children and Community Development.

According to Farah Nini, there is currently no one-stop centre that filters complaints and channels them to the relevant authorities.

She added that the current mechanism used by the Education Ministry to report bullying is also not child-friendly.

“At the same time, there is weak protection of those who lodge reports,” she said.

Ideally, she said wardens should also not comprise teachers themselves.

“Teachers already have heavy responsibilities,” she said, stressing that anyone hired as a warden must be screened thoroughly.

This includes psychometric assessments and also screening measures stipulated under the Child Act.

“We do not want those working with children to also have previous offences against children,” she said.

Childline Foundation director Datin PH Wong urged for a dedicated desk under the 15999 Talian Kasih hotline to respond to calls from children, noting that this service used to be available.

“It must be manned by trained professionals. We can also just train the current operators on how to listen to children on the line.

“It is a specialised training and we cannot just put anyone there,” said Wong who also spoke at the briefing.

According to Wong, there were approximately 15,000 calls to this line annually between 2010 and 2015.

Puchong MP Yeo Bee Yin, who chairs the Parliamentary Special Select Committee on Women, Children and Community Development, said they will be pushing for the establishment of a child-friendly portal to report bullying.

She said the committee will also compile the outcome of this briefing, alongside briefings from the relevant ministries, and table a report to Parliament next Thursday.