Bullying culture at UPNM needs urgent reform, appoint veterans as wardens - Former intelligence chief

SHAH ALAM - A former army intelligence chief has called for a restructuring of the Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (UPNM) management following a recent spate of bullying incidents.

According to Datuk Khlir Mohd Nor, the increasing number of bullying cases reported recently proved the failure of the management in handling student affairs.

"If the same incidents happen repeatedly, the real problem may have stemmed from the management.

"In the military, whether it’s at a training centre or a military academy, bullying culture would always exist, but what was happening now was very serious because it had already cost lives.

"If the intention was truly to strengthen relationships, this was not the right way. There were many other proper methods. So, I saw this failure as stemming from the administration itself," he added in an interview with Sinar recently.

Khlir, who is also the Ketereh MP, emphasised that educational institutions should have mechanisms in place to address bullying issues.

He pointed out that this problem had already claimed the life of a UPNM student, yet it seemed that no firm actions had been taken to stop it.

“To prevent this from happening again, a major change needed to be made to the management of UPNM, starting with the appointment of wardens in student hostels,” he said.

"I suggested that the wardens be veterans from the Malaysian Armed Forces (ATM) because they had more experience in this field.

"Many retired soldiers aged between 40 and 50 are seeking jobs, so appointing them as wardens would provide them with an opportunity to support their families," he added.

He further stated that, in addition to the restructuring of the management, higher education institutions must have appropriate mechanisms in place to prevent bullying.

Such initiatives could include installing 'watchers' to monitor if any bullying incidents occurred, he said.

"New students were afraid of seniors because if they leaked information, they might be bullied.

"Therefore, wardens or the management needed to be smart in finding solutions to this problem.

"If such incidents still happen in the future, not only would the students be expelled from the institution, but the management would also be held accountable," he added.

On Sunday, Kuala Lumpur Police Chief Datuk Rusdi Mohd Isa revealed that the police were investigating an incident involving a 19-year-old UPNM student who had allegedly been stomped on by a third-year senior, resulting in fractured ribs and a broken back.

This revelation shocked many, especially since days earlier, a cadet officer from the UPNM Military Training Academy (ALK) had been brought to court on charges of injuring a junior with a hot steam iron.

Amirul Iskandar Norhanizan, 22, was charged with intentionally causing injury to Muhammad Salman Mohd Saiful Surash, 20, by using a hot steam iron at the UPNM academy in Sungai Besi Camp, Cheras, at 11.45 pm on Oct 22.

Defence Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin stated through a post on the platform X that the latest incident was inappropriate and tarnished the image of UPNM as well as higher education institutions.

Last Saturday, Defence Deputy Minister Adly Zahari said that the administration system at UPNM would be improved, including increasing the number of wardens.

"The approach to increase the number of wardens had been made since the first incident involving the late Zulfarhan Osman Zulkarnain in 2017," said Adly.