Survey: Malaysian students able to deal with online threats
Malaysian students are well-equipped to deal with cyber bullying and online peer pressure, thanks to Internet awareness programmes in the country such as DiGi’s CyberSAFE, an international survey revealed.
The survey, called Safe Internet study, was carried out on students aged between 12 and 18, and covered 1,896 students in Malaysia, 1,510 (Bangladesh) and 1,336 (Thailand).
It was arranged by mobile phone operator Telenor Group, a major global mobile telecommunications operator.
Students who encountered cyber bullying and online peer pressure frequently were asked about their ability to tackle these negative experiences.
“All three countries scored similarly, with the majority of students saying that they felt capable of resolving such issues, whether alone or by consulting parents and teachers. This ranged from 67 per cent in Malaysia to 59 per cent in Thailand,” Telenor Group said in a statement.
The Safe Internet study analysed the students’ responses to internet-related threats to understand factors influencing behaviour patterns, and to develop solutions to make the web a safer environment.
It said 37 per cent of Malaysian students have encountered or have been involved in cyber bullying, compared with 49 per cent from Bangladesh and 33 per cent of Thai students.
However, the survey noted that many youths did not understand the serious effects, quoting a 2014 study in Malaysia that reported two-thirds of children felt that sending an offensive SMS, pretending to be someone else online or posting inappropriate photos did not qualify as cyber bullying.
A total of 49 per cent of pupils in Bangladesh said they succumbed to at least one form of peer pressure, compared with 39 per cent of Malaysian students and only 35 per cent of Thai students.
“Over half of the pupils in all three countries (70 per cent in Malaysia, 67 per cent in Thailand and 61 per cent in Bangladesh) stated that they would not send explicit messages, also known as ‘sexting’,” it said.
The survey also found that students in all three countries tended to confide in parents and teachers when faced with online issues that they did not know how to solve alone.
