Azalina sees ‘dangerous misogynistic tendency’ in violence against female students, urges closer look

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 7 — Law and Institutional Reform Minister Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said today said the recent fatal attacks on female students in schools and universities could signal a rise in misogyny, and called for the underlying causes to be examined in depth.

Speaking to reporters in Parliament, she said many of the victims were women targeted by people they knew, such as classmates or faculty mates.

“From what I have observed generally, many of the victims are women, and those committing these acts are people they know — perhaps classmates or faculty mates,” she said.

“So it seems as though there is an element of gender-based violence. Whether the response stems from rejection, jealousy, and so on, what concerns me is that women are becoming victims of violence in these situations.”

Her remarks come after the death of 16-year-old Irene Sofiya Khairoul Faisal, who was found dead in her school hall after failing to return home from extra classes.

Police said she suffered fatal blunt force trauma to the head, and have remanded three male schoolmates to assist with investigations under Section 302 of the Penal Code for murder.

Azalina said the attacks appeared to be driven by a sense of entitlement, where being refused or rejected is met with violence.

“This matter needs to be examined in depth because it seems as though these acts can be committed because of a sense of entitlement. When someone asks for something and doesn’t get it, or wants something and is denied it, the response is violence.

“This is a very dangerous misogynistic tendency,” she added.

She added that female students were bearing the brunt of such aggression, and stressed the need for monitoring and intervention across the ministries responsible.

Azalina also pointed to a wider cultural shift, saying young people have grown impatient and expect things to arrive quickly, citing app-based delivery services.

“Young people today want everything quickly. In the past, if you wanted to cook, you had to look for onions, chop the vegetables, right? Today you just call Grab and everything arrives,” she said.

“You want a headset, you order by phone and it arrives. It cannot continue like this… this is why I feel this issue must be looked into seriously.”