“We have to prepare the child for the path, not the path for the child.”
– Tim Elmore, best-selling author
I REMEMBER a time when schools were sanctuaries of learning; places where teachers commanded respect, parents stood as pillars of guidance, and discipline was the invisible thread holding the moral fabric of our society together. Those days, sadly, are gone.
The classroom today is no longer sacred. It has turned into a breeding ground for violence, moral decay, and unthinkable crimes! Yes, from gang rapes to murders, committed not by hardened criminals but by our own children.
Two shocking cases in Melaka and Kedah, involving alleged gang rapes by teenage students, have once again dragged our nation into the pit of shame. In the first, a 15-year-old girl was allegedly gang raped by four schoolboys in a classroom at a school in Alor Gajah on October 2. The act was filmed on a mobile phone and circulated online.
In another incident in Kedah, three students and a former pupil were arrested after videos of sexual assaults involving a schoolgirl were found being shared and possibly sold on the dark web. If the allegations are true, it is not just a crime, it is a symptom of a collapsing moral order.
Malaysians are understandably furious. Parents are terrified. Teachers are demoralised. And the education system, once a proud institution of national development, stands naked and exposed as a system that has failed to protect its most vulnerable – the children.
Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek’s decision to allow the gang-rape suspects in Melaka to sit for their examinations only rubbed salt into the wound. When criminals are treated as students first and offenders second, we send a dangerous signal: that schools are safe havens even for predators.
This crisis did not begin overnight. It is the inevitable result of years of complacency; from the ministry down to the classrooms, from parents to policymakers. When society decided that the cane was cruel, when we stripped teachers of the authority to discipline, and when parents began rushing to schools to “defend” their misbehaving children instead of correcting them, the rot began to set in.
Let me make this clear: discipline died the day we demonised the rotan.
In the 1960s and 1970s, being caned by a teacher was a badge of shame, one that most of us wore only once because we learned our lesson. When a teacher disciplined us, our parents didn’t storm into the school demanding an apology. Instead, in the case of yours truly, my parents gave me another round of caning at home. That partnership between parents and teachers forged generations of well-behaved, responsible citizens.
Today, that partnership is broken. The cane is gone, replaced by “counselling sessions” that neither deter nor correct. Teachers are paralysed by fear of lawsuits, of social media backlash, of parents who believe their little angels can do no wrong. Parents, on the other hand, are either overprotective or entirely absent. Both extremes are equally destructive.
Let’s not mince words. Parents must shoulder 80 per cent of the blame for this moral collapse. Too many have abdicated their roles, outsourcing parenting to smartphones, tablets, and TikTok. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim recently blamed social media for the rising tide of student misconduct. He is not wrong, but he is not entirely right either. The problem is not social media itself; it is the absence of parental control.
Parents today are too distracted, too career-obsessed, too indulgent to notice the rot growing under their own roofs. Many are busy chasing material comfort while their children spiral into moral chaos. When both parents work long hours and come home exhausted, who raises the children? The internet.
Let’s be brutally honest. Many of these issues stem from poor family planning and the inability of some parents to provide proper guidance. What is the logic of having six or seven children when both parents barely have time to raise one properly?
I have often said this, though it may sound harsh: if you cannot afford to raise children with proper care, supervision and values, do not have them. The government should even consider policies to promote responsible parenthood, encouraging families to focus on quality upbringing rather than quantity of offspring.
A retired senior journalist, Azman, told me bluntly that “consensual sex among students might be going on for years. The only difference is that now there’s evidence; videos circulating via handphones. That’s why it’s all out in the open.”
“The latest ‘rape’ or consensual sex cases have caused uproars because they’ve gone viral. But this issue should have been tackled long ago, not swept under the carpet for fear of damaging the school’s image,” he said.
Azman believes parents bear the biggest responsibility. He insists they must monitor their children and provide moral education at home.
“We’ve stressed moral and religious education for decades, but has it really helped? This moral decay is like cancer, already at Stage Four. No education minister or strict teacher, no matter how gung-ho, can overcome it unless parents wake up,” he said.
The recent stabbing case at a school in Bandar Utama, Petaling Jaya, where a 14-year-old boy killed a girl student with a knife, has added another horrifying chapter to this national tragedy. Schools have begun using metal detectors to screen students at the gates. It’s a measure born of fear, not foresight.
The problem is not just physical security; it’s emotional neglect. Teachers need to be trained not only to teach but to detect. Early intervention through proper counselling, psychological support, and behavioural monitoring must become standard practice. Every school should have a team comprising teachers, counsellors, parents, and clinical psychologists to monitor emotional distress, aggression, or sudden behavioural changes.
But all this will mean nothing if students are not afraid to cross the line. Without the fear of punishment, moral awareness evaporates. So, I say bring back the cane!
Let’s be clear. The return of corporal punishment is not about inflicting pain. It’s about restoring respect for authority and responsibility. A controlled, just, and proportionate caning system administered with compassion but firmness can be the deterrent this generation desperately needs.
Melaka state education committee chairman Datuk Rahmad Mariman said it best: “We hope the caning system will be reintroduced in schools, but it must be implemented wisely in a bid to educate and not to inflict pain.” He is right.
The cane, when used judiciously, teaches accountability. It reminds students that actions have consequences. It doesn’t make them violent; it prevents them from becoming violent. Those of us who grew up under such a system are living proof.
Of course, not everyone agrees. My friend Ms. Reha K, a mother of three, insists that “caning makes a child rebellious and vengeful”. She believes punishment breeds resentment. With due respect, that argument doesn’t hold up. The rebellion of today’s youth is not the result of too much discipline but of too little. Fear of authority, when tempered with fairness and love, is not cruelty; it’s guidance.
As for the argument that caning causes “mental destruction”, the truth is, what’s truly destroying our children is moral indifference, not moral correction. A society that fears discipline more than it fears crime has lost its moral compass.
Civil society groups are right to call this a “total failure” of the education system. But this failure goes beyond schools. It reflects a larger national malaise, an erosion of values, the glorification of materialism, and the obsession with political correctness. We talk endlessly about religious education, moral studies, and Rukun Negara values, yet these principles remain confined to textbooks. When a student can stab a classmate or rape a peer in a classroom, we must admit that moral education has failed in practice.
Azman puts it best: “We’ve been preaching morality and religion for decades, but the output keeps worsening. Teachers are forced to teach, not to inspire. The system is robotic and soulless.”
He is right again. No education minister, no syllabus reform, and no exam policy can fix this without parental partnership and societal honesty. The system is sick because the soul of our parenting culture is sick.
The rotan once symbolised the line between right and wrong. Its absence has erased that line. We have created a generation unafraid of consequences, unashamed of wrongdoing, and unanchored from morality.
Bring back the cane. Not to hurt, but to heal. Not to punish, but to protect.
The views expressed here are those of the columnist and do not necessarily represent the views of Sarawak Tribune. The writer can be reached at rajlira@gmail.com
