PUTRAJAYA — The government has agreed to form a special committee to tackle bullying, a direct response to a series of high-profile cases involving students that have fuelled widespread public outrage.

Communications Minister Datuk Fahmi Fadzil announced today that the committee will be chaired by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said and will comprise representatives from various ministries and agencies.

“Among the committee’s tasks is to study and streamline standard operating procedures,” Fahmi told the weekly post-Cabinet meeting press conference here.

“Among the special committee’s tasks is to study and streamline standard operating procedures after we amend several laws, including the Multimedia and Communications Act,” Fahmi told the weekly post-Cabinet meeting press conference here.

“Datuk Seri Azalina had also proposed forming an anti-bullying tribunal, and the committee will take into account SOPs for boarding schools and others,” the minister added.

The committee’s first meeting will be on Sept 2, Fahmi said.

Reports of bullying in Malaysia’s schools have risen sharply in recent years, prompting the government to introduce laws specifically to address bullying.

These include the new Section 507(B) of the Penal Code, which was applied for the first time against five teens in the high-profile case of Zara Qairina Mahathir.

Zara Qairina, 13, was found unconscious near her school dormitory in Sabah on July 16 and pronounced dead at Queen Elizabeth Hospital the next day. She is believed to have suffered bullying, neglect, and sexual harassment.

The Education Ministry recorded 3,883 reported cases of bullying in primary and secondary schools in 2022, and the number rose to 6,528 cases by 2023, former director-general Azman Adnan said in December 2024.

There were 6,208 bullying cases in schools between January and October 2024, according to official data.