Zulfarhan case: Public demands punishment for shaman, anonymous letter recipients
SHAH ALAM - An anonymous letter allegedly sent by Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (UPNM) students to seek help from wardens to save Naval Cadet Officer Zulfarhan Osman Zulkarnain has gone viral on the X application.
According to the post, the anonymous letter was written on A4 paper and inserted at the gate of the Military Hospital on May 23, 2017, while the second anonymous letter was placed under a coach’s room door the next day.
However, it was claimed that the letter became known to all members of room 4-10 after the coach shared the letter in a WhatsApp message.
Following this revelation, many parties began to question the actions of the UPNM management in handling the bullying issue.
Meanwhile, in an Instagram post, actress Rita Rudaini expressed support for those who received the anonymous letters to be held accountable for failing to perform their duties.
She also criticised the actions of a shaman who was said to have given clues about the missing laptop, leading to the late Zulfarhan being beaten by the accused.
“Did he get a clue or a whisper from the devil? The shaman did not even know where the laptop was. He is the cause of all this!
“The warden who barely did his job should also be held accountable. The same goes for schools, dormitories, and universities... whenever there are complaints, they start blaming parents for pampering their children. Parents send their children not to be punching bags. I support action against those who received the anonymous letters,” she stressed.
Rita also urged parents to take this case as a lesson and not to take it lightly or be afraid to report bullying cases.
She stated that parents should always communicate with their children to share opinions and experiences about the ups and downs of life and the appropriate actions to take if they face difficulties.
On the X application, the name of the late Zulfarhan was trending with 82,000 mentions as of 5pm on Wednesday.
According to @radidaros, the university management was considered insensitive and negligent in their duties because the wardens and hostel management failed to handle the students properly.
Additionally, @mutalibuthman stated that the court should convict the captain or coach responsible for putting the anonymous letter on WhatsApp and the shaman involved because both were the cause of Zulfarhan’s death.
Meanwhile, @AzriAbdullah22 said that most parties were now condemning the culture of harassment, torture and bullying at UPNM, not the entire organisation, as every university has its weaknesses.
“The public is angry because when the UPNM administration was informed through Akmal's anonymous letter, no action was taken to verify the information about Zulfarhan.
“The public also wants changes in UPNM towards a better direction; no one wants UPNM to be closed. If there are, those are just emotional responses,” he said.
