Woman Recalls How She Was Bullied Due To Henna Hair Dye

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Many of us have memories of laughing and hanging out with friends when we were students - but this is not what a young woman from Selangor experienced.
ADSIn this third edition of stories covering bullying cases in schools, Nur Sarah (not her real name) told Malaysiakini she dreamt of having a beautiful experience in school but instead, ended up being a victim of bullying just because she dyed her hair with henna.
According to the 24-year-old woman, it all started when she entered a boarding school in Negeri Sembilan about a decade ago.
Less than a week there as a Form One student, senior students began picking on her because of her hair, which she used henna to dye.
In fact, she said that one of the senior students had even gone so far as to cut her hair.
“My mother then went to see the counselling teacher and was told that the school did house problematic students.
“Eventually, I went back to my old school but was put in the religious studies stream at my mother’s request,” she said.
Ostracised
However, being placed in the religious studies stream was not as pleasant as she thought it was. Everything was fine until a classmate found out the real reason why Nur Sarah had returned to the school.
Her classmates felt that dyeing her hair with henna was the same as using a chemical dye and thus haram (forbidden).
She soon felt ostracised and seen as different by her classmates because of this.
“Since then, all the female students in the class did not want to talk to me at all. They ostracised and ignored me as if I did not exist.
ADS“I was never physically bullied, but I was mentally devastated.
“Every day, I cried after coming home from school and also in the school toilet because I couldn’t face the school day,” she said.
Although it receives less attention than physical bullying, forms of bullying that cause mental disorders are increasingly being taken seriously, especially in this age of social media.
Mara shocker
The issue of bullying in schools has once again come to the attention of the public following the revelation of an incident involving students from the Mara Science Junior College (MRSM) in Penang.
The one-minute and 32-second video footage shows a group of male students smashing the head and body of another student lying on the bed.
A screenshot of a group of male students smashing the head and body of another student lying on the bedThey were also seen whipping the victim with a belt.
Two of the students participated in the physical act of bullying while another five were considered accomplices.
The incident sparked a strong reaction from Mara, which recommended that all seven students involved be expelled.
Silver lining
Nur Sarah said that the bullying against her lasted for almost three years until she was in Form Three.
She also said that she had applied for a transfer to a different class but was rejected due to it being part of a different stream.
But at the end of Form Three, she met friends who were sincere in their friendship.
“Allah brought me very good friends. They accepted me as I am, and to this day, we are still close friends,” she said.
Even so, the trauma of being bullied still haunts her to this day.
Nur Sarah said the sadness left a strong impression on her and she still cannot make eye contact with her former classmates if she bumps into them at a function or party.
“Just because of my hair henna, I was hated so much by religious and intelligent students. Until now, I have not been able to forget that experience.
“People see me as normal, but only Allah knows what I feel,” she said sadly. - Mkini

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