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I‘m still a little disatisfied with the injustice of the situation the other day. Here’s why; PLS don’t RT this. Just read and move on.
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…a group of students from IACT College and Brickfields Asia College created a WhatsApp group chat that objectified female students from both institutions. Unfortunately for the people within this chat, a screencap of their conversation involving a rape joke went public when the girl involved caught wind of it.
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27 April 2017
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malaysiakini.comVerified account @malaysiakini 5 hours ago
#Letters JAG condemns use of rape to silence women who advocate rights http://dlvr.it/P0RCc9
JAG urges all individuals, including government officials, law enforcers, civil society and private citizens alike, to speak out against rape jokes, rape threats and misogynist remarks against any woman; to strongly push back against the normalisation of rape; and to stand for women’s rights to political participation and right to freedom of expression.
Endorsed by the Joint Action for Gender Equality (JAG):
Persatuan Kesedaran Komuniti Selangor (Empower)
All Women’s Action Society (Awam)
Justice for Sisters (JFS)
Perak Women for Women (PWW)
Sabah Women’s Action-Resource Group (Sawo)
Sisters in Islam (SIS)
Tenaganita
Women’s Aid Organisation (Empower)
Women’s Centre for Change (WCC)
https://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/380529?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
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TheMalaysianInsight @msianinsight 15 hours ago
Rape culture alive and kicking in Malaysia, says women’s group
By Yap Pik Kuan
THE recent incident of a rape “joke” by local college freshmen that went viral on social media further underlined the fact that rape culture was very much prevalent in Malaysian society, a women’s rights group said today.
Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO) executive director Sumitra Visvanathan said rape culture in society became evident when threats of sexual harm were dismissed as merely “jokes”.
“Rape culture is the way society and social institutions normalise and permit rape.
“This includes blaming the victim and excusing the perpetrator. Every statement that threatens sexual harm to a woman must be taken seriously. Rape culture enables men to make rape threats – and minimises them as ‘harmless jokes’, Sumitra told The Malaysian Insight through WhatsApp.
“Rape is a real threat to women and girls – it’s not a joke. We must protect and empower victims – not blame or silence them.”
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WAO’s Sumitra said the ambiguity of existing laws with regards to the different forms of sexual harassment made it difficult to punish offenders.
She said the college, and other educational institutions, should have a consistent policy to handle sexual harassment and sexual assault cases, adding that students needed to be educated in what was considered acceptable language and behaviour, and what constituted sexual harassment. – April 26, 2017.
https://www.themalaysianinsight.com/s/2135/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
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26 April 2017
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Malay Mail OnlineVerified account @themmailonline
The other side of the BAC rape joke story
PETALING JAYA, April 26 ― The Brickfields Asia College (BAC) said it has suspended a student indefinitely and assigned him 100 hours of community service after he posted a rape joke in a WhatsApp group.
The management of the private law school stressed that the remark by the student, who turned 18 in January, was not a rape threat, noting that the female target, an IACT College student who has since left the college, was not in the chat group that had seven other male freshmen students.
“There is no issue of safety… as far as we’re concerned,” BAC founder and managing director Raja Singham told Malay Mail Online in an interview at the Petaling Jaya campus yesterday.
He added that the campus is safe and that they have been running the college for 26 years “and so far, incident-free.”
Raja said the WhatsApp group had both BAC and IACT freshmen students who had joined just a few weeks ago and were interested in playing futsal. (IACT College, which is a subsidiary of BAC, is located in the same building as the BAC PJ campus.)
According to him, the students shut down the WhatsApp group after an uproar erupted on social media when the target of the rape joke, a teenager who turned 18 in February, tweeted last Wednesday a screenshot of the comment: “She gonna ‘kena’ rape from me. Then she must marry me.”
Raja said the teenager discovered the rape joke when a member of the WhatsApp group, a friend, showed it to her.
According to Raja, the 18-year-old did not lodge a complaint with the college administration and management only found out about the incident through social media.
The BAC managing director said the youth who posted the rape joke had apologised on his own accord to the teenager in person last Thursday as well as issued an apology on his Facebook page and accepted his punishment from the college. He has also undergone two hours of counselling.
“He was remorseful and accepted everything that was thrown at him,” said Raja, adding that the youth had also received threats himself.
Raja stressed that action would have been taken, including lodging a police report if necessary, even if the young woman did not go public and made a complaint with the student services department instead.
“We would have called the boys in, we would have done the whole thing properly,” he said.
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Michelle Yesudas @chelle_yesudas 14 hours ago
Dear @BACCollege , as a former student, I am concerned that this woman does not feel safe in your college http://www.thelevel.my/brickfields-asia-college-accused-protecting-potential-rapist-forces-student-college/ …
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23 April 2017
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Iman Tanita al Ghul @nocturnaltapir
You deserve it @nottilla Badass women Kathrine Switzer Atilla Hanna Serena Williams Johanne Astrid Poulsen… http://www.elle.my/life-and-love/News/Badass-women-Kathrine-Switzer-Atilla-Hanna-Serena-Williams-Johanne-Astrid-Poulsen-Rahaf-Khatib …
Badass women: 21 April 2017
We take our hats off to Malaysian student Atilla Hanna who spoke up against a group chat created by college students to critique new female students
Atilla Hanna
[Updated 23 April 2017]
A statement released by Brickfields College today says only one boy is facing disciplinary action and has been given 100 hours of community service.
[Updated 22 April 2017]
Atilla has released a new Twitter thread on her personal account, detailing interactions she has had with officials from both BAC and IACT about her original post, the boys’ actions, and the subsequent social media publicity. She has explained that she’s disappointed with the action taken by the staff of both colleges, that she was pressured to remove her original post and made to feel at fault for publicising the incident in the first place.
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In her tweets, Atilla writes: “I cracked and took the post down as they said it was the wrong move on my end. Fast forward to two days ago, the boy who said those nasty things approached me along with a friend of his. He apologised but his friend was also stating that I was wrong as well, both BAC students. Thats when I asked him, what he got from the BAC team, he said NOTHING. He didn’t get any disciplinary actions towards him. He said the most that he got was a slap from a girl but nothing from BAC. NO counselling, NO temporary suspension, NOTHING. He walks free.”
Atilla has also stated that she’s faced intimidation and threats from other students, and her parents have consequently made the decision to withdraw her from IACT.
We contacted a representative from BAC today, who informed ELLE that the male students involved in the incident have been suspended until further notice and given 1,000 hours of community service at the college.
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For anyone who thinks that fighting for women’s rights is a ‘western feminists’ thing, this Malaysian student is here to tell you otherwise. Now-deleted tweets by Atilla Hanna (@nottilla) reveal how she exposed a college group chat that critiqued and objectified new female students at IACT College and Brickfields Asia College. Students in the group had made negative comments about her and her boyfriend. The stream of insults even included one particularly unacceptable comment: “She gonna kena rape from me, then she must marry me.” We’re fuming too.
[Update: A Facebook post by the sister of Atilla’s boyfriend that contained screenshots of Atilla’s tweets has been deleted.]
Atilla made reports to the BAC and IACT managements, who have apparently resolved the matter (we hope that means the group chat has been shut down and the students reprimanded). Atilla tweeted that she chose to speak out “to encourage and instill respect for women” and that “RAPE is not cool.” Good on you, Atilla, for having way more balls than any of the guys in that group chat ever will.
For more:
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22 April 2017
The Level
Brickfields Asia College Accused Of Protecting Student Who Made Rape Joke
This case has escalated, the potential reality is ugly.
-UPDATE 22/4/2017-
The BAC students involved in the controversy have been suspended and given 100 hours of community service, as per Elle Malaysia. The student who made the rape joke, one Khovvyin Raj Raj (as per his Facebook page) has also come forward with an apology on the aforementioned SAYS article regarding the controversy.
Brickfields Asia College and IACT have issued the following statement. The Level notes that the official statement contradicts what was originally reported based on Atilla’s own Twitter posts regarding the counselors from BAC and IACT.
For more:
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weehingthong 