For the past seven years, four rural Sabahan girls of SMK Taun Gusi, Kota Belud, Sabah (school code: XEA5351) have been victims-turned-whistleblowers against Ministry of Education abuse of power, threats, violence, and negligence in rural Sabah.
How? In a historic first, these girls captured undercover video & audio footage of their teachers, administrators, and fellow students, establishing clear evidence their teacher refused to teach for months and their school administrators covered it up. With this evidence, they summoned the MOE and six other Defendants to High Court. For the Plaintiffs' unprecedented persistence, a High Court injunction confirmed they were intimidated by MOE officers’ during trial preparation. Outrageously, the witnesses with evidence were attacked–this case is the antithesis of integrity and human dignity.
Few in our history have been raised with so little, yet fought so compassionately as these four High Court Plaintiffs:
Their experiences are not unique in viciousness, but they are unique in evidence. A significant # of our schools exhibit the same modus operandi of cover-ups in cases of sexual abuse, bullying, racism, fraud, corruption, and negligence. These cover-ups signal that the MOE’s Director General, Integrity Unit, NAZIR Unit, Legal Affairs Unit, and Special Officers will never be truthfully informed by the state JPN, district PPD, school administrators, nor teachers until it is too late.
After decades of inaction, these students blew the whistle to protect themselves and their community from dangerous MOE officers. In October 2022, their audio & video recordings were adduced in an unprecedented High Court trial (BKI-22NCvC-88/11-2020) against the Ministry of Education, school principal, and teacher. These young women are inspiring the nation from their kampung in one of Malaysia’s ten poorest districts (P169 Kota Belud).
These moments are rare, YB Fadhlina.
As a mother, an esteemed lawyer, an activist, and Member of Parliament, the Minister of Education has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and uncommon authority to act expeditiously to protect the administration of justice. As MOE whistleblowers, we know that these girls’ stories could have been our stories.
What would we expect from a Ministry led by human dignity? What would we know if the Ministry turned the other cheek even when presented with clear and confirmed abdication of the law?
These actions are emergency measures–the High Court trial continues on 10 - 11 January 2023 where multiple teachers will testify. The MOE cannot become a legal vehicle for errant, corrupt, and violent MOE officers to protect their own skins.
Enough is enough. The Ministry of Education’s legal, moral, and public responsibilities are now put to the test. This 2015-era cadre of officers, from the MOE, JPN, PPD, and school, have repeatedly claimed they were honest, the Plaintiffs had lied, yet they produced little evidence, and then threatened student survivors and teacher witnesses.
The MOE should now welcome an open policy for school whistleblowers to speak up on misconduct & abuse to eliminate the fear, apathy, and silence on our open secrets.
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This letter was sent to the CSO Platform for Reform and then to Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek in the last week of December 2022. Malaysia's Minister of Education has been a Defendant for four years now. Meanwhile, we have had three days of trial since GE15: 23 November 2022, 10 January 2023, and 11 January 2023. To date, the Ministry of Education has not publicly enacted any of these recommendations. This copy of the letter has been slightly edited to protect confidentiality of whistleblowers and for clarity.
"The culture of fear for speaking up must end.”
Mt. Kinabalu, Sabah | Ong Cheng Zheng ⤤ on Unsplash ⤤