KUALA LUMPUR: The Malay College Kuala Kangsar (MCKK) Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) lodged a police report today against the social media users responsible for the school bullying posting that subsequently went viral.
One of the PTA members, who declined to be named said it decided to file the police report due after the bullying case was circulated on social media.
He said the report was filed as a response to threats and intimidation received by the parents, guardians, and MCKK's teachers as well as students.
"With this police report, we hope the public will cease making harmful posts, derogatory comments, false accusations and threats against MCKK students, parents, and teachers," he told a press conference today at the Travers police station here.
A lawyer representing the PTA members, Hasshahari Johari Mawi said legal action will likely be taken against those responsible in spreading the postings about the bullying case.
He asserted that these messages posted online allegedly contained defamatory content and misinformation.
"Our legal team has been instructed to take legal action, as some of the messages and broadcasts contained defamatory content and false information.
"While these issues were previously resolved at the school-level, they have been circulating widely and this led to the PTA's actions today.
"Consequently, we have received instructions to pursue legal action, including obtaining restraining orders for several posts uploaded on social media.
"We have identified certain individuals or users who used various names on social media, and we will proceed with the available legal actions," said Hasshahari.
The PTA members including its chairman refused to comment on whether one of the students involved in the bullying case is the child of the PTA's chairman.
They remained resolute in their decision to withhold any remarks concerning the intentional inclusion of names of the alleged bullying victim's family members in a statement posted on the MCKK's PTA Facebook page.
"I have no comment on that. Basically, the names were already viral before that. But I don't want to comment. I don't want to comment," said one of the PTA members.
Meanwhile, Hasshahari said they have identified three social media users who allegedly caused the case to go viral.
"For the posts and messages that have been made, three different individuals or users have been identified. Each of them used different user names, both on Instagram and Facebook."
Asked if legal action will be taken against the three social media users, Hasshahari said it could be a possibility.
"Our team has collected numerous posts and messages, which have been included with the police report filed today.
"Authorities such as police and Malaysian Communications And Multimedia Commission will take further action on this."
Kuala Kangsar police had confirmed receiving a report over a bullying case involving form four and form five students at MCKK.
District police chief Assistant Commissioner Omar Bakhtiar Yaacob had said that police came across viral messages relating to the incident on Saturday after it was posted on Instagram.
The bullying took place on Sept 24 at about 10.05pm, the police said. In the incident, the victim- a form four student- was beaten up by a form five student.
The victim was then taken to the Kuala Kangsar Hospital by the school for further treatment.