YOURSAY | ‘A good soldier's priority is to protect life, not take it.’

'Inhumane': Agong tells Defence Ministry to take bullying cases seriously

UPNM abuse: Khaled says SOP being improved, warns cadets of expulsion

Hrrmph: Will the Defence Ministry issue a statement as to how these horrendous events of bullying even happened not once but repeatedly at Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (UPNM)?

Why was nothing done after UPNM cadet Zulfarhan Osman Zulkarnain was tortured to death in 2017 to prevent similar incidents?

That was seven years ago. Was there any enquiry as to why no administration staff were aware of the days-long torture of Zulfarhan?

Or if they were, what action was taken? Why did it take them more than a week to report the latest incident of abuse where the student's spine and ribs were fractured?

Were the administration staff unaware of the incident again?

What sort of military training institution is this that the student cadets run lawless whilst the administration staff remain ignorant?

Is it not scary that military training involves being unaware or ignoring what's happening around them?

NoobMaster69: A good soldier's priority is to protect life and not to take it.

If one thinks that just because they are bigger or more superior, they can assert their authority over someone that they think is beneath them then this person is no soldier but just another bully.

The bully should be kicked out of school and let him enjoy the real bully of society.

Koel: These cases signal weak and incompetent leadership at the highest levels of this so-called university.

An honourable leader would have stepped down on their own accord. That quality, too, is missing.

Remove the leadership, review the academic side of this university, if indeed it is a university, and bring in qualified persons with a strong background in the area of defence studies.

A defence university is not for nurturing bullies and cowards that attack the weak and defenceless.

Those are signs of emotionally damaged and deranged types. A leader who cannot see the difference has no business in education.

MarioT: Defence Minister Mohamed Khaled Nordin, you are missing the core issue and that is, that the staff in charge are more than responsible for allowing such acts of bullying to go undetected until it becomes too late.

Had the staff been alert and doing their duties with the utmost care, such incidents could have been avoided.

Moreover, there is also a serious lack of discipline. Without addressing the administrative failures, reprimanding the students is not going to help.

Playfair @ MarioT: Thomas Hughes's novel "Tom Brown's School Days" should be made compulsory reading for any and every staff posted to this "academy".

The British knew how to run boarding schools.

We inherited this from them but failed to understand the intricacies of managing them. It is a long story of hidden failures.

Sando: This has been happening since the 1970s or even earlier.

Hazing or ragging took many forms from light fun and games to more violent physical and mental abuse of the victims, who are usually defenceless cadets in many of our institutions, more so in the military.

I don't know about now but even commercial cadet pilots go through vile, disgusting, degrading treatment called ragging. It can easily get out of hand.

Fair Play: When the Yang di-Pertuan Agong has to express his displeasure, why do we still need the government of the day?

Where is their sense of responsibility and accountability as the government of the day? Members of the public might ask this pressing question.

Where is Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim?

Lone_star: Why still tiptoeing around the problem of bullying in UPNM or any other spaces?

Time to put your feet down and stamp it out in all spaces. Isn't one death already too many?

Jay Tee: No one has been sacked or has resigned. This is all due to poor management.

Bullying is not new - it’s in schools and universities. What happens next? Nothing, until another tragedy strikes.

WhitePony9855: For decades, rampant bullying has been taking place and this is due to the “tidak apa” (don’t care) attitude and denial syndrome amongst the top brass.

If discipline is so lacking, just imagine when these boys are called to defend the country.

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