Sex abuse victim teaches school that silence is truly shameful

By Jeerawat Na Thalang

The Nation

Published on September 13, 2008

I want to applaud a 13-year-old girl who was almost gang-raped by fellow students during a lunch break at her school in Chumphon province for her decision to go public with the fact that she had been sexually abused. The girl decided, against the advice of her teachers, to tell her parents of the unfortunate incident, which prompted them to take action against the six schoolboys who sexually harassed her.

Thai Rath reported on Friday that the victim's mother and the school's parents representative were seeking justice for the victim, a Mor 2 student.

The story is tragic: she was reportedly sexually molested by a gang of six schoolboys who were trying to take off her school uniform and touch her body while one of them filmed the scene on his mobile phone. But there was a fortunate ending to the story. The victim was narrowly rescued by a group of five young girls.

Afterwards, the victim decided to press charges against the boys despite having received the opposite instruction from the school's teachers, whose integrity has been put into question, as they seemed to be more preoccupied with saving face than the welfare of their students.

The incident happened, according to Thai Rath, in a most unlikely setting: a classroom during lunch break. The girl was walking to her classroom during lunch on September 4, when she was pulled into the classroom by a 14-year-old boy. Another five boys were waiting there to sexually abuse her. One of the boys took such pleasure in the incident that he took out his mobile phone to record it.

The victim was crying for help, and luckily a group of five young girls who were passing by heard her screams. Once the girls realised what was happening, they rushed in to rescue the victim. One of the girls was quick-thinking enough to snatch the mobile phone from the hands of the boy recording the scene, realising that this could provide solid evidence once further action was taken against the boys.

However, once the girls showed the clip to teachers, they tried to sweep the dirt under the carpet for fear of "bringing shame" to the school. Each of the boys was caned twice as punishment. A sad aspect of the event is that the teachers asked all the girls not to tell anyone about the scandal.

But the young victim didn't feel right about this reaction. She felt very humiliated and she didn't want to go to school. Later, she told her parents, who became furious and decided to bring the case to the police. The parents also brought the case up at a meeting with other parents in order to warn them to protect their children.

The parents' association asked the school to explain its lenient reaction to the issue and it was informed that the boys' actions were simply due to their raging hormones.

While the legal case is pending a police investigation, the school's reaction has come under scrutiny. The school's response was in fact nothing new. Other victims of sexual abuse and their families have tended to keep these incidents secret out of fear that the ensuing scandal would bring them shame.

In this case, the teachers feared that the incident would tarnish the school's reputation. Therefore, they decided to underplay the incident, by dismissing it as simply the result of raging hormones - despite the fact that it was a whisker away from turning into a gang rape. Besides, the school failed to show the boys involved that one's morality and integrity should not be compromised. The failure to take action against the boys sent them the wrong signal that the school found their actions acceptable.

The upside of this incident was the reaction from the girl's parents, who listened to her sympathetically, which has helped her recover from the physical and emotional onslaught. Other parents in their place may have chosen to be silent for the same reasons that the girl's school did. The teachers failed to understand that the girl deserved to be able to deal with the incident by being free to talk about it and by knowing that the perpetrators received the punishment they deserved.

Besides, the girl has apparently received strong emotional support from the group of five girls who rescued her from the ordeal. Other girls in their place might have turned a blind eye to the incident out of fear for their own safety.

Finally, the victim herself did a decent thing by going public with her story, against the instruction of her teachers. She confided to her parents and encouraged them to take the case to the parents' association so that the parents of other girls would know that the school could be a very dangerous place.

Have the students learned anything from this story? No, we don't need to repeat grand notions like "justice will prevail". But the simple answer is that bad incidents can be avoided with a little help from school peers. The irony of this is that the most childish reaction came from adult teachers.

By Jeerawat Na Thalang

The Nation

Published on September 13, 2008

Disgusting how the school valued their reputation over and above the welfare of one of their students. Sadly I imagine this is could be a reaction globally from many schools, not just here in Thailand. I wonder how many girls (or boys) feel too much shame and confusion and go along with the advice from their teachers and say nothing. Glad this girl had strength to speak out and had supportive parents. Glad too that these boys will hopefully learn a lesson from this and prevent them from thinking its ok to behave like this later on in their lives. It may not have been the first time they have done it either.

Edited September 13, 200817 yr by eek

If the story has been accurately reported in the newspapers, it is an outrage. But at least it has a happier ending.

If true, I find it incredibly sad and inexplicable that any teacher would advise such a victim not to report the matter to her parents.

If the story has been accurately reported in the newspapers, it is an outrage. But at least it has a happier ending.

The bloody school should be prosecuted under ' Dust under the Rug Legislation '.

That poor girl sexually abused what an ordeal to go through. The perpetrators should be immediately expelled from the school. The Teacher suspended etc.

I just hope it does not affect her for the rest of her life.

Unfortunately, I find the report completely credible in all respects. I believe that the misguided attitude (along with not making trouble for themselves) is to spare the boys a criminal history; however, the real effect is to send out the message- in yet another way- that there is no accountability. I have the feeling the future will be a scary place....

I doubt if it is about sparing the boys a criminal history. It is about the name of the school, as also stated in the article.

I think that Thais placing so much importance on "saving face" is one of the main problems that keeps Thailand from ever reaching the status of "developed nation." By never being able to point out and act upon problems because someone might lose face, means that no constructive dialog can ever happen to fix any problems.

The way the school acted should be unbelievable, but knowing something about how things go in Thailand it doesn't surprise me at all and is quite believable.

One would have thought that the 6 boys might have overpowered the 5 girls to retrieve the incriminating mobile phone, but as the odds weren't the typical 6 on 1, I guess the spineless little twits were frightened that they'd get beaten up.

Unfortunately, it's not likely that any real justice will prevail in this situation, and the 6 little pieces of crap are probably chuckling to themselves and planning their next assault.

Saving face is a big problem indeed. But on the other side there also seems to be a necesity to give someone the blame. I have reported unwanted behaviour by a teacher once. Little was done. But in that case not only to save face. If the facts were as clear as in this reported case my director would have act, no doubt about that.

You also have to deal with the Thai defamation laws, which makes people reluctant to act without solid evidence. And then if a director acts and reports it he faces the possibility of diciplinaire actions for allowing it to happen at his school.

Child Protection Act of 2003 [Thailand].

Downloaded from the following site:

http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/type,LEGISLA...6b2f91f2,0.html

Saving face is a big problem indeed. But on the other side there also seems to be a necesity to give someone the blame. I have reported unwanted behaviour by a teacher once. Little was done. But in that case not only to save face. If the facts were as clear as in this reported case my director would have act, no doubt about that.

You also have to deal with the Thai defamation laws, which makes people reluctant to act without solid evidence. And then if a director acts and reports it he faces the possibility of diciplinaire actions for allowing it to happen at his school.

I agree that many factors come in to the picture. It's important that teachers (along with parents) instill a sense of right and wrong - with open discussions among students. Additionally, teachers may ask their bosses what sorts of behavior will be tolerated, and what sorts disciplined - and relate that info to the students also. Some young people may simple not know what's acceptable and what's not - especially from the school administration's perspective.

Some kids who may seem more susceptible to abuse (sexier than average girls, or katoy boys for example) may want to carry around a whistle.

When kids know the boundaries, then they'll also know when they're overstepping them, and should also be made aware of the consequences of doing so. It may seem obvious to us, as adults, but I wouldn't be surprised if many Thai kids don't have a really good idea of what constitutes certain unacceptable behavior - and even less of what sorts of punishments may lie in store.

The OP from the Nation highlights that particular school (and there are likely many others) which don't have a strict consequences for indecent/harmful behavior. The result is such behavior will likely continue - as perpetrators don't worry about serious repercussions. Is is any surprise that such boys grow up to become tomorrow's leaders - just look at the current bad apples in Bkk and see their attitude: "we can be as bad as we wanna be, and there are no repercussions" ha ha.