Introduction — Siti Nafirah | 2018 Litigation
‍Thank you for coming today. I will only be speaking Malay today; a written English translation will be given.

My name is Siti Nafirah binti Siman; I am 22 years old. I was born in Sabah and have lived in Kota Belud my whole life. I am a former student of SMK Taun Gusi, a secondary school in my district.

I am also the 1st High Court Plaintiff that summoned seven Defendants at the Ministry of Education in public interest litigation. Why? And why seven Defendants? Because my English teacher did not enter class for seven months and the principal, the school, the Kota Belud District Education Department, the Sabah State Education Department, and the Ministry of Education took no reasonable actions after they were notified.

In a clean & fair education system, this could have never happened. But this is Malaysia, isn’t it? This is Malaysia for orang kampung, akar umbi, kanak-kanak, dan wanita. Guru ponteng is a decades-old injustice, but still in rural areas, mentioning it can make a room go silent. No more: speak with conviction and let them listen carefully.

My litigation will build a case of misfeasance in public office, violations of both the Federal Constitutional and the Education Act, a seven-month absent teacher, and Ministry of Education officers' collaborating to fabricate government records in a chain stretching from SMK Taun Gusi to the Kota Belud District Education Department and the Sabah State Education Department.

My High Court trial will begin on 12 September 2022, almost four years after I filed it. I requested multiple declarations against the Defendants to help build a precedent against the Ministry of Education. Sabahans must be protected after my litigation: it was, is, and always will be rakyat yang jaga rakyat.

Court Updates — Siti Nafirah | 2018 Litigation
Many people ask me why I filed my case. Why summon?

First, because everyone, from teachers to parents to students, already admits the MOE’s investigation system is quite broken. Many MOE officers, now Defendants in two litigation cases, were informed of the 1st Defendant’s extreme absenteeism in 2015. Yet here we are in 2022 with one batch suffering in 2015 and another in 2017.

Second, I want to open the eyes of school administrators, parents, teachers, and students. We must priortise our education and there is nothing more basic to a quality education than teachers that enter classes. As the Ministry says, students are the evidence.

Third, many people feel comfortable dropping cases and claim their forgiveness is a sign of mercy. Yet, “when you forgive without justice, you reward injustice.” Let us be honest: “forgiving and accepting injustice is simply cowardice.” “The answer to injustice is not to silence the critic, but to end the injustice.” What we allow is what will continue—end of story.

Fourth, I want my case to be completely open to the public. I want all of Malaysia to hear from my side and the Ministry’s side. I want the evidence submitted in open Court. I want you to see what I saw. And then, let an independent judge question us all.

In my litigation, Alhamdullilah, I have been successful in the preliminary stages. But the trial will be the true test. I share these victories with all those that have supported me. These are victories for Sabahans. I will fight on during trial and I appreciate your support.

If you speak about guru ponteng in Kota Belud, some will shiver. It is very taboo. That I even filed the case was shocking to many: “So many others have failed. Why is she even trying?” But look at what the Court has said:

In July 2019, the High Court Judge gave the first decision in my case. I had applied for what are called interlocutory applications. Here, my lawyers and I found significant issues with the Defendants Court filings: 

1. a Discovery application to force the Defendants to submit missing relevant evidence to the Court and;

2. a Further & Better Particulars application to force the Defendants to specifically respond to important questions that were not addressed in their Court filings.

In fact, the Defendants objected to both of my applications and asked the Judge to reject my applications.

Alhamdullilah, the High Court ruled in favour of me, a 19-year-old Kota Beludian girl, and against the Federal Government, the Ministry of Education, the Sabah State Education Department, the Kota Belud District Education department, the school principal, and the teacher. Can you believe it? A Kota Beludian girl was already defeating the Federal Government, while I remember some parties in KB thought I would instantly fail.

I pray rural communities in Sabah are proud to see that our lives matter, both in morals, but also in the law. We will not be further taken advantage of. The Defendants were then forced to comply with the Court orders after they had initially argued against my applications.

Shortly after the Federal Government lost those two complaints in High Court, the Defendants tried to strike out my case. It is the last-resort move in a legal case: it immediately causes the Plaintiff to lose before a trial. Of course, my lawyers and I objected to this Striking Out Application.

In September 2019, the High Court gave a ruling again in my favour. Again the Federal Government lost in High Court to a 19-year-old Kota Beludian girl. I pray I am making Kg. Jawi-Jawi proud. The High Court believed my public interest litigation is worthy of a full, public trial with witnesses, evidence, testimony, and an independent judgement. The Government’s striking out application failed to stop my litigation.

We poor & rural Sabahans do not ask for much. We simply ask that those on the top remove their boots from our necks: let us learn, let us become educated. Are we so disposable to them? Are we so worthless to them? Thankfully, in Court, we have a chance of transparency.

Ketika anda dianggap lama, maka bangkit lah membuktikan anda mampu mengubah sejarah dunia.

Reforms Required — Siti Nafirah | 2018 Litigation
When I started this litigation, Kota Belud was already one of the top 30 poorest districts in Malaysia. In 2019, Kota Belud was found to be one of the 10 poorest districts in all of Malaysia.

I do my best to stay resilient. But instead of relying on children to be resilient, what if we create a world that is less traumatic? Many have deep shame and cannot open old wounds; some still live in fear of the Ministry; others never healed and still suffer.

Doing nothing is not the neutral choice. It is the destructive choice.

I give a reminder: I summoned in Court, asked all parties to bring their evidence, requested a public trial, and I did not slander on social media. It is because the Court is the last, final-resort “saluran betul”—all witnesses are protected without fear and the Judge does not fear nor favour either party.

Thus, because of this miraculous legal team, I am able to have a fully independent investigation & judgement into the incidents at my school. In fact, for the wealthy, this is very normal: they always take their disputes, defamation, problems to Court. But for people like me? It is impossibly rare to have an independent authority above the Ministry to take any action against cases brought by the poor because many of us can hardly find enough legal aid, our education is so manipulative that it does not even mention our rights over the Government, and it is a massive sacrifice to prepare for Court.

Thus, we must have independent investigations, outside of the Ministry of Education and outside the Executive, to investigate such severe misconduct. It is obvious that the Ministry should not be able to investigate the Ministry itself.

As Tunku Abdul Aziz Tunku Ibrahim explained, tiada organisasi di dunia melakukan pemantauan kendiri. Tetapi kerana kekurangan pengawasan, kita ada masalah ini. Jika tidak ada siasatan bebas, kita hanya bermain dalam memerangi salah laku dan rasuah.

Everyone deserves such an independent investigation. Even until now, Malaysia still has no “Public Ombudsman”, which is like a Pembela Rakyat. It is independent of the civil service, of the Executive Branch, and all politicians. They can investigate cases and discipline those violating our laws, without any interference and without major delays.

For honest & clean teachers: independent investigations is their only hope. Even teachers are not spared from interference from upper levels in the PPD, JPN, and even KPM.

Some say we are too young, breaking traditions and customs. Our right to clean, quality education is not so cheap. The tradition that because our grandparents and parents could not fight for their rights, then their children should also be damned? Whose tradition is that?
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Introduction — Rusiah - Natasha - Calvina | 2020 Litigation
Thank you for coming today. We will only be speaking Malay today; a written English translation will be given.

Our names are Rusiah binti Sabdarin, Nur Natasha Allisya Binti Hamali, and Calvina Binti Angayung. We are 21 years old. We are Sabahans and former students of SMK Taun Gusi, a secondary school in our Kota Belud District.

We are the 2nd batch of High Court Plaintiffs that summoned the Ministry of Education in public interest litigation against guru ponteng. Our Saurdara Siti Nafirah was the spark to our spotlights. Together, we summoned five Defendants to High Court after the 1st Defendant English teacher refused to enter our class for over four months:

The teacher, the principal, the Director-General of Education, the Minister of Education, and the Federal Government. This is a case for all the suffering, hardworking honest teachers that are forced to make up for their absent colleagues.

This is a case for all the suffering, shocked parents that have realised their children were cheated out of a lifetime’s potential. This is a case for all the suffering, hurt students whose testimony can and will protect our country’s future.

No more.

Our trial will start on 5 September 2022, almost two years after being filed. We will stand firm for transparency and for an impartial trial. For the first time, young women in Kota Belud and the Federal Government will be treated as equals.
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Court Updates — Rusiah - Natasha - Calvina | 2020 Litigation
First, because we are determined to be the last generation to suffer this problem. The cycle of poverty must end.

Second, to stand up for thousands of poor Sabahans that stood up, but were ignored while the abuse continued and no justice-centric systematic reforms were enacted. “If they do it often, it’s not a mistake: it’s just their behaviour.”

Third, to ensure our case and our evidence are put into the public sphere. Enough secret school records, enough pressure tactics, enough backdoor meetings. Everyone must see what we saw. Everyone will, by virtue of our trial, witness what we witnessed.

Foruth, our fight is for our honest and hardworking teachers. They will still suffer, even if some of the lower-ranking officers are changed. Teacher whistleblowers will only be protected once the entire system is forced to account. Frankly, it would be an insult to teacher whistleblowers across Malaysia if our litigation did not also summon the Ministry of Education.

Today, we will share two announcements. First, after six months of delays, the Federal Government filed their Court Defence last June 2021. Yes: six months of delays.

Let me explain the background: we filed our litigation on the 22nd of December in 2020 with an 11-page statement of claim. What happened? Between Jan 2021 to May 2021 and four Court mentions, the Defendants filed no Defence at the High Court. We released a statement in May 2021 noting our litigation had already waited 135 days without a Court defence.

Then, the Defendants took an additional 1.5 months after our statement. In total, we Plaintiffs and the Court were forced to wait 181 days after our filing, on 22 December 2020, until the Defendants were able to file a Defence. We remind you their Defence need only reply to an 11-page Statement of Claim by three 18-year-old girls in Kota Belud.

181 days: weeks turned into six months.

Saya agak terkilan kerana pihak defenden lewat menghantar pernyataan pembelaan diri mereka. Adakah mereka tidak ingin membela diri mereka atau mereka tidak mempunyai rasa tanggungjawab terhadap kesalahan yang telah mereka lakukan.

Kelewatan pihak defendan menghantar pernyataan pembelaan selepas 181 hari merupakan satu tindakan yang tidak bertanggungjawab.

Saya ingin katakan, strategi murahan langsung tidak mematahkan semangat kamu untuk perjuangan menegakkan keadilan.

Tukar tanggungjawab anda bahawa orang2 miskin seperti kami akan terus berdiam diri.

Bebaskan hak kami
Kembalikan hak kami
Jangan usik hak kami

The second Court update: in those six months where the Defendants were unable to produce any Defence, the Defendants were also taking extra-judicial actions to force us to withdraw the Court case against them. Yes: officers under the 3rd and 4th Defendant, the Director General of the Ministry of Education and the Minister of Education himself. You’ve heard the stories: now you will see the reality. Many MOE officers have been accused of this breach of law before, especially against poor communities, Sabahans, Sarawakians, and orang asli.

You may wonder, how can we speak about this? Are we making an accusation without evidence, without following Court procedure?

No. We told you: we are determined to be the last generation and so we were ready. Between January 2021—just hours, days, and weeks after our summon—through April 2021, we gathered audio and photo evidence of the Defendants’ harassment to immediately drop the case against themselves, the Ministry of Education. Because they knew: we control our case. Only we can withdraw it. They cannot ask the Attorney General or the Ministry to stop the case. So they made extra-judicial threats against us and our families. But we secretly recorded their threats: as they say, “ludah atas langit—kena muka sendiri.”

In those four months, we obtained significant evidence of their extra-judicial harassment:

— 9 WhatsApp screenshots of the Defendants’ statements

— a 30-minute undercover audio recording of the school principal Nuzie @ Mohd Hj Balus and three other male teachers

On 22 January 2021, SMK Taun Gusi principal Nuzie Mohd Hj Balus requested for High Court Plaintiff Rusiah, a 18-year-old Form 6 student in her final semester, to meet him in a closed-door meeting. He had already met her family privately, who had been coerced into pressuring Rusiah to drop her case. Next to Principal Nuzie were Mr Roslan bin Asang, Yusof bin Rakunman, and Mohd Sabanah Bin Abdul Rahman.

Rusiah, by the quick assistance of another student, turned on her phone and started to secretly record the audio of the entire conversation.

That room held four adult men, all officers of the Defendants, with Rusiah alone. Nuzie and the others then questioned Rusiah repeatedly on her Court case, her claims, her intentions, brought up her brief absences when Rusiah had been caring for her sick father, and even her home’s safety and whether she owned a CCTV system. Notably, Principal Nuzie had pressured Rusiah’s father a few weeks earlier at her home.

Unlike the Defendants, we followed the law & Court procedures: MOE officers have no right to make closed-door meetings to question litigants on their litigation without their lawyers present, even if the litigants are students. MOE school principals are not above the law and these were egregious attempts to undermine the administration of justice.

We know how to follow the rules and how to capture those that are breaking them: Calvina was the Ketua Pengawas of SMK Taun Gusi, Natasha was a Pengawas of SMK Taun Gusi, and Rusiah was Ketua Kelas. We were trained to stop misconduct by the Defendants.

Most brazenly, these officers of the Ministry of Education’s 3rd and 4th Defendants had noticed Rusiah’s phone and asked her to turn it off. In a show of unbelievable bravery, Rusiah knew that Nuzie & others were breaking the law and so she kept on recording the Defendants.

On 26 April 2021, we took this evidence and filed a Court Injunction against the four primary defendants: the teacher, the principal, the Director General of Education, and the Minister of Education. A Court Injunction is a very rarely granted remedy especially against high-ranking Ministers and public servants. The burden of proof is very high, especially against an entire Ministry of Education. At the time, this meant the Defendant 3 Director-General of Education, first Habibah binti Abdul Rahim, and then Nor Zamani Abdol Hamid; and Defendant 4 Minister of Education--at the time, it was Radzi Jidin.

Yet, we pushed on. On 7 September 2021, the High Court delivered its order. We succeeded: the Court issued a restraining order injunction against the 1st Defendant Jainal Jamran, the 2nd Defendant Suid Haji Hanapi (the original principal from 2017), the 3rd Defendant Director-General of Education, and the 4th Defendant the Minister of Education.

What was going on in the Defendants and Ministry of Education officers’ minds to interfere with the administration of justice? Why would any MOE officer interfere in an ongoing Court case? Are our country’s educators unable or unwilling to accept the Constitution’s separation of powers?

There was no misunderstanding: in fact, in Court, the Senior Federal Counsel representing the Ministry of Education and all other Defendants chose not to object to our application. What made us targets here?

—Was it because the Court treats us as equals, just like the Constitution states?

— Was it because we broke their culture of fear?

— Was it because we refuse to stay silent?

— Was it because we were united and refused to back down?

— Was it because we are young women?

— Was it because we live in one of the 10 poorest districts in Malaysia?

As written by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, sometimes people that abuse their power blame everyone else for “misunderstanding” their abuse of power. Why? It is a tactic to gain sympathy from ordinary people who have ever been misunderstood by others; the abuser wants us to think “I made a mistake and maybe you have also made mistakes, just like me.” But, these people intentionally created a culture of fear and intimidation; that culture of fear is no mistake. It is meant to silence the victims. But when the culture of silence failed, they changed their answer again to “a misunderstanding”. There is no misunderstanding.

Penindas tersinggung ketika yang tertindas menolak untuk mati dalam diam.

Reforms Required — Rusiah - Natasha - Calvina | 2020 Litigation
This litigation is also for those that eagerly claim to “respect the poor”, “help Sabahans”, “support women” or “fight for education”, yet when they see our problems, they are obsessed with solutions that solve only half the problems in 15 years and still they leave many loopholes to protect their own power, so such policies to “help us” becomes completely useless. Too many learn about government from politicians or senior civil servants, while many of Malaysia’s leaders are rich, cowardly, or irresponsible: this is why so few of them spoke about period spot checks before 2020 or extremely absent teachers before 2018 or corruption in education at any time.

The real problems are found inside the kampung, inside the packed apartments, around the longhouses, and in the homes of ordinary families.

For many in Kota Belud, because they’ve accepted "it could be worse", now they have lost the ability to imagine that it could also be better. Well, we have proven them wrong once with our injunction victory and we will continue to do so. As they say, “It’s funny that the people that call us naïve for believing change is possible are actually the same people that believe the Ministry of Education should investigate itself.”

Between the time we filed our case and today, two major headlines have stuck out:

Mar 2021 | Sabah primary teacher gets longer jail term for sexual assault | Kota Belud, Sabah

Nov 2021 | Ex-teacher gets 28 more years for sexual abuse | Sipitang, Sabah

This is only a “sensitive” issue to those a part of the system. To the rest of us, it is simply showing a system failing to protect its children.

Shying away from reality has nothing to do with protecting children. It has everything to do with protecting adults that don’t want to have difficult conversations with those children. And to those that want us to keep quiet: the disapproval of cowards is praise to the brave.

How many thousands more Sabahan children received threats from their principals once they spoke up? It is time for school misconduct to be investigated by a neutral third-party: it is the only way to protect teacher whistleblowers, student whistleblowers, and Ministry whistleblowers.

As we have seen, even when a Court case is pending and the Judge expects no interference, some MOE officers still found the time to interfere in the administration of justice. You should not need to go to Court like we did. The Defendants have taken such actions for an absent teacher of four months. What are they doing in cases more severe?

We call for independent investigations and independent whistleblower protection outside of the Executive Branch. What we have in Court is what every Sabahan should have in school.

Don’t claim to support the youth with gimmicks and cheap tricks. To the youth, nobody is trying to fix the problems we have in this country; instead everyone is trying to make enough money so the problems don’t apply to them anymore.

Conclusion — Rusiah - Natasha - Calvina | 2020 Litigation
Many student and teacher whistleblowers have spoken up and continue to speak up against misconduct, abuse of power, and criminal offences in the Ministry of Education. Why the change? Because our generation understands, “Kita tidak boleh hanya membalut luka rakyat dipijak roda ketidakadilan. Kita sendiri perlu memacu jejari bagi menghentikan roda tersebut.”

This litigation is for all Sabahans: there are thousands like me across Sabah, in my class, in my school. I will testify for those that never had a voice. If you still have your voice, join me and testify. After all, until the lion learns how to write, every story will glorify the hunter.

If you feel ashamed of what happened to you, to us: shame is reserved for the things we choose to do, not for the circumstances forced onto us. There is no shame: the MOE in its public reports and interviews has admitted Malaysia has extremely absent teachers. This Court case is a mirror to Malaysia and instead of changing the reflections in the mirror, some get mad at the children holding the mirror.

If you feel afraid of what they will say: Ada kalanya kamu mesti bersuara. Bukan kerana kamu akan mengubah mereka, tetapi jika kamu tidak bersuara, mereka telah mengubah kamu.

If you feel small because of how we were treated: it is precisely because we students + parents + teachers hold so much power that they are afraid of our testimony and our voices. Tiada siapa yang benar-benar anggap kita lemah—hanya penindas yang mahu kita bersikap begitu.

Some find solace in self-blame because the alternative is admitting that our leaders & schools lied to rural and poor Sabahans: about our rights, about our education, about how widespread the problem is, about how many hardworking teachers are suffering, and about how much we, our children, and our grandchildren have lost.

"History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again.” It remains clear that if teachers don’t enter classes, teachers lose nothing while students lose everything.

We would like to thank our legal team for fighting hard in Court and helping Sabahans achieve these three pre-trial victories.

We would like to thank all the students and former students that have given us solidarity. We still welcome all. We also thank teachers and MOE officers that have encouraged me to keep going. Hardworking teachers also become victims of guru ponteng.

We thank many CSOs and NGOs that did not hesitate to support our public interest litigation; your support, from Sabah, Sarawak, and Semenanjung, has lifted our spirits.

We thank many in the media that continue to cover the stories of Malaysia’s youth, scandals in education, and report without fear nor favour. You have a huge power to clean Malaysia.

We stand in solidarity with many activists, both new and old, that have stood up in great numbers to #MakeSchoolsASaferPlace and #PendidikanBersih. They have sacrificed so much. Ain Husniza, Puteri Balqis, to name a few.

Most of all, we thank and stand in solidarity with our schoolmates and co-Plaintiffs and the entire Kota Belud, Sabah, and Malaysian community.

Our litigation might look like “four girls vs the Ministry of Education and extreme teacher absenteeism”. But, we were not the first: thousands more like us are still suffering from deeply unjust systems in our education system. You will find victims like me in every kampung, in every district, in every state. While we are not the first, we are determined to be the last. In that sense, we find a real connection with this poem by Jasmin Kaur.

Scream
So that one day
A hundred years from now
Another sister will not have to
Dry her tears wondering
Where in history
She lost her voice