Saturday November 24, 2012

Survey: Many have no idea who to turn to after being bullied

PETALING JAYA: Bullying is rife among Malaysian children and the victims have no idea who to turn to.

Those are the initial findings of an ongoing anti-bullying survey run by R.AGE, The Star's youth platform.

A recent study by Microsoft showed that 84% of Malaysians aged eight to 17 have been victims of bullying.

The R.AGE survey, however, found that only 25% of them would tell their parents or teachers about it.

Over half of the victims stayed silent after being bullied, while 83% of respondents felt there aren't enough support systems in schools to deal with bullying.

The survey is part of a campaign by R.AGE called #iwasbullied to address the growing problem of bullying among young people. The campaign will be fully launched early next year.

“Based on the studies we've seen, one of the main problems with bullying is young victims find it very difficult to tell someone about it.

“When they leave school, they just leave that dark chapter behind,” said R.AGE acting editor Ian Yee.

“With #iwasbullied, we hope to get all Malaysians to share their bullying experiences. We want everyone to recall how tough it was for them and remember that they have a responsibility to make sure it doesn't happen to their own children, siblings, nieces and nephews and so on.”

The bullying among young Malaysians reached a new low last month when 14-year-old K. Saravanan was violently beaten to death by a group of Form Two students in Alor Gajah, Malacca.

> To take part in the R.AGE anti-bullying survey, log on to facebook.com/thestarRAGE.

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