Ain Husniza Saiful Nizam is facing a RM 1 million defamation lawsuit from her physical education teacher, who is accused of making indecent and inappropriate rape jokes in class. The letter of demand came in after the police decided no further action against him.
The lawsuit has sparked a debate on social media. Some netizens supported the defamation suit against Ain Husniza, claiming that her statement has defamed the teacher. They argued the teacher should be respected, and Ain Husniza should not make a big deal out of his statement. Fortunately, some netizens stand together with Ain Husniza and defend #MakeSchoolASaferPlace. The Joint Action Group for Gender Equality (JAG) has released a press statement with the endorsement of 107 organizations and 68 individuals, to support Ain Husniza and call upon the Ministry of Education to disclose the outcome of the internal inquiry. The teacher was previously transferred back to Selangor State Education Department during the police investigation.
This controversial incident has not ended. Ain Husniza was investigated by the police for “intentional insult with an intent to provoke a breach of the peace”. Ain Husniza has decided to countersue the teacher for RM5 million for inflicting intentional emotional distress.
The development of this incident has shown that the victim can be easily criminalized. Throughout the whole incident, the identity of the teacher who allegedly made inappropriate jokes was not disclosed. Ain Husniza as a victim in the case, however, is the one who needs to bear with the irrational accuses from social media. Why there is no further action taken by the Ministry of Education? Does the MoE imply that this kind of inappropriate behavior is acceptable since the statement was just a ‘joke’? Police decided to take no further action because there is not enough evidence to prove the case? The damage has been done, and what can society do to prevent this unpleasant event from happening again?
According to Rachel Wong, a law graduate from the University of London, the defamation lawsuit made against the Ain Husniza is less likely to discourage the victims from speaking out, as long as they are speaking the fact. In fact, there is a bigger issue behind sexual harassment, which is the people’s mindset. Judging from the passiveness of MoE and the negative reaction from some netizens, gender equality does not stand firm in Malaysia. The netizens dismissed Ain Husniza’s uneasy feeling, and they can even blame her for not obliging to her religion. The victim becomes a ‘criminal’ when she did not cover her aurat. That is very easy for the actual criminal to turn the blame around.
#MakeSchoolASaferPlace has triggered a discussion on social media. People have talked about their sexual harassment encounters, regardless of male and female. It is definitely frightening to know that there are still many sexual harassment cases that were not reported. While #MakeSchoolASaferPlace has raised awareness on sexual harassment in school, people’s ignorant mindset will probably discourage the victims to speak out again. Hence, society should protect the victims at all costs while putting effort to change the mindset. We are waiting for the days when gender equality is achieved.
#SuaraMasyarakat
