Law needed to stop online bullies

The rampant problem of cyberbullying can only be stemmed by specific legislation to criminalise such behaviour.

REMEMBER the adage “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me”? In the days before the Internet, it was a fitting response to taunts and insults from childhood bullies.

Today, words can hurt a lot more than sticks, stones or fists of the physical bully.

Cyberbullying can make a person’s life miserable and painful to the point of suicidal thoughts.

And it’s not just children or teenagers whose lives are largely dependent on communicating via text and social media who can end up as victims of cyberbullying.

In the latest tragic case, 44-year- old N. Sashikala, who was unable to endure the endless online harassment, decided to end it all.

She hanged herself with a saree at her home in Subang Jaya, Selangor, on Aug 6.

The private tutor, a mother of three daughters, had been using the TikTok app to share videos about her passions, luxury handbags and rescued dogs since January.

According to one report, which quoted her 18-year-old daughter, Sashikala was mocked and insulted by several cyberbullies, including a man who was known to her.

Two years ago, Thivyaanayagi Rajendran, a 20-year-old woman in Penang, left a suicide note stating that she was taking her life because of a viral video and naming the person who started the harassment.

It happened after she re-enacted a Hindi movie song clip with her Bangladeshi co-worker and shared the video on TikTok. She was ridiculed and condemned for “dating” a foreigner.

It led to a torrent of harsh and hateful comments from fake Facebook accounts, including one with 70,000 followers.

According to her sister, Thivya was not only abused on social media but also directly by people who recognised her from the viral video.

The woman was then engaged to her boyfriend of three years and planned to marry him in December.

Claims that she was dating her Bangladeshi co-worker were totally untrue.

Despite repeated requests, the video and comments were only taken down by the platforms after her death.

In both Sashikala and Thivya’s cases, the main culprits appear to have escaped punishment despite being clearly identified.

Although it is only highlighted in the media whenever suicides like the above happen, there is no doubt that cyberbullying is indeed rampant in Malaysia.

According to a United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) report issued in January, Malaysia now ranks second in Asia for cyberbullying among youth in 2020.

Between 2016 and September 2021, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) received 15,238 online harassment complaints covering online bullying, sexual harassment, threats, misuse of personal data and sharing of private pictures to humiliate intended victims.

However, only 963 cases – just 6% of the total – were investigated by the agency and these involved online abuse via social media under Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 which mostly concerns improper use of network facilities.

And out of these 963 cases, only 60 were taken to court, resulting in 241 charges against offenders.

What is the definition of cyberbullying? The Cyberbullying Research Centre (cyberbullying.org) defines it as “willful and repeated harm inflicted through the use of computers, mobile phones, and other electronic devices”.

Online bullying comes in a variety of forms: hate speech, sexual remarks, stalking, trolling and ridicule.

Globally, victims are 1.9 times more likely to commit suicide and only 38% of them tell their parents.

A recent Universiti Sains Malaysia study to find the link between cyberbullying and suicidal behaviour among adolescents found that social media engagement contributes to the rise of cyberbullying and tragic suicides.

It revealed the pervasiveness of cyberbullying with victims as suicide risks.

The study identified that 13.7% were victims while 3.3% were perpetrators. The tendency of suicidal behaviour was 17.1%, with 11.9% having suicidal thoughts, 10.2% planning suicide and 8.4% having made suicide attempts.

The other risk factors included age, history of abuse, being a girl, living in an unstable family, depression and the perception of no support from family and friends.

The findings warrant more effective strategies focusing on early identification of and intervention among those with higher risks of suicide.

Last Sunday, Communications and Multimedia Minister Tan Sri Annuar Musa said the government was looking into tightening the Personal Data Protection Act 2010 (PDPA) and other multimedia-related laws to curb cyberbullying and scams.

He said the ministry had submitted several recommendations to the Attorney General’s Chambers.

“Scams and cyberbullying cases are a real challenge to the ministry,” he was quoted as saying.

While amendments to the PDPA are much needed in the wake of several personal data breaches this year, Malaysia needs a specific law on cyberbullying to fight the growing problem, like in Japan, Singapore, the Philippines and most states in the United States.

But the government is taking too long to do this.

In March last year, then Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah said the ministry was preparing a Cabinet paper on such a law, adding that there was existing legislation on cybersecurity but there was no definite law to deal with cyberbullying.

Punishments under such a law should be harsh enough to deter likely offenders, like Singapore’s Protection from Harassment Act. Those who deliberately cause harassment, alarm or distress via social media can be fined up to S$5,000 (RM16,200) and/or be jailed up to six months. The punishment is doubled for repeat offenders.

As a further deterrent, the law criminalising cyberbullying in Malaysia should not just cover offenders but also the social media platforms that they misuse.

Instead of just suspending users who break the rules from posting for a certain period of time, social media companies should be compelled to impose harsher punishment such as banning abusers permanently.

Media consultant M. Veera Pandiyan likes this quote by Benjamin Disraeli: “Courage is fire and bullying is smoke.”

Those suffering from problems can reach out to the Mental Health Psychosocial Support Service at 03-2935 9935 or 014-322 3392; Talian Kasih at 15999 or 019-261 5999 on WhatsApp; Jakim’s (Department of Islamic Development Malaysia) family, social and community care centre at 0111-959 8214 on WhatsApp; and Befrienders Kuala Lumpur at 03-7627 2929 or go to befrienders.org.my/centre-in-malaysia for a full list of numbers nationwide and operating hours, or email [e-mail].