These 3 women shook Malaysia in ways you couldn’t imagine

Women have made great strides in helping with the nation’s growth. However, outside of celebrations like International Women’s Day, not much conversation is had about their contributions to the country, and we’re still quite far from giving them equal treatment.

It didn’t stop some women from pushing for changes, though, whether at the cost of their peace or life. Let’s look at who they are so that we don’t forget their contributions and sacrifices, in one way or another.

1. The influencer whose death led to Malaysia’s first cyberbullying laws

Suicides over cyberbullying have been making headlines over the years. Take K-pop idols Sulli and Goo Hara’s deaths for example. Their deaths gained so much traction that South Korea tabled new laws like the “Goo Hara Law” to tackle issues like inheritance after their untimely deaths.

Their deaths weren’t the first or last, unfortunately. Last year, influencer and Hindu rights activist, Esha also took her life over cyberbullying. Prior to her death, she was the subject of harassment, death threats, and rape threats in a live TikTok session by another influencer.

If that wasn’t enough, the influencer had their followers harass her afterward too. She later made several police reports and spoke out against the cyberbullying. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough to stop her ultimate demise.

Before Esha’s death, there were no laws that exclusively tackled cyberbullying. The perpetrator was also only fined RM100 to boot. While hers was not the first case to make headlines, the sensationalisation over it prompted the Cabinet to review existing laws as they did not exclusively tackle cyberbullying.

The following months saw the first-ever laws for cyberbullying passed in Dewan Negara in December 2024. Though these laws alone aren’t enough to tackle cyberbullying, they did at least lay the groundwork for future approaches to the problem.

We really hope that another life need not be sacrificed for new laws to be introduced.

2. The then 17-year-old girl who started a TikTok movement against sexual harassment in schools

Imagine getting a lawsuit at 17. That’s what Ain Husniza got when she exposed her sunnadabeach PE teacher’s rape joke on TikTok back in 2021.

Before Ain’s case, laws on sexual harassment were limited to minors. For gawd knows what reason, her then-PE teacher somehow thought it was a “brilliant” idea to make a joke out of to which he nonchalantly said IN CLASS: “So if you want to rape anyone, then rape someone above 18.”

When Ain exposed the joke, thousands came forward and shared similar experiences they’ve had in school. This motivated Ain to start the TikTok movement #MakeSchoolsASaferPlace to raise awareness about sexual harassment in school. It gained a LOT of international attention including Al-Jazeera and BBC.

You’d think action would be taken after this but noOOoOoOoooOOoooo. Poor girl and fam were always on the receiving brunt somehow – receiving a suspension notice from the school, getting a rape threat from a male classmate, ostracised by their local community which forced them to relocate, and the icing on the cake – the petty RM1 million lawsuit.

What’s even worse? The teacher in question merely got transferred, and the counter lawsuit Ain eventually filed later was categorised as “NFA” (no further action). Ain & co. decided not to pursue the case further for their own peace of mind.

“When I spoke out about it, (I got so much) hate towards me and I don’t know why… It’s just making schools a safer place. What is there to debate about it?”

– Ain to The Straits Times

While no new legislative shifts have been made since the incident, the fact that Ain managed to thrust the issue into the global spotlight is pretty impressive on its own, considering how it’s an issue that not many women were comfortable discussing on our own waters.

Now, the 21-year-old is a full-fledged activist working with several organisations such as the Child’s Rights Innovation Fund and We Are Purposeful.

3. The journalist whose corruption exposé led to a change in government

Remember that 1MDB fiasco that eventually became one of the biggest corruption scandals in history? If you weren’t aware of how it was exposed, it’s all thanks to this journalist right here who reported for The Sarawak Report.

Brown started The Sarawak Report in 2010 and ran the site from her apartment in London. It covered stories about the environment and welfare of Sarawakian indigenous people before becoming the investigative news site we know today (thanks to their 1MDB exposé).

She first received a tip-off about the scandal in December 2013 concerning Najib’s stepson, Riza Aziz who purportedly financed the 2013 film The Wolf of Wall Street with funds from 1MDB. As you can expect, things picked up from there and by July 2015, The Sarawak Report became the first news website to be censored by the Malaysian government.

Good thing that didn’t stop Brown from uncovering the 1MDB scandal. Unfortunately, she received death threats, was stalked, and banned from Malaysia for her investigations. She was even hit with a defamation lawsuit and sentenced to two years in prison for defaming the Sultan of Terengganu.

The Sarawak-born journalist’s efforts were not in vain. It took down Najib and Barisan Nasional in the 2018 election, the first defeat for BN in 61 years. Though Malaysia experienced a couple more political turbulences afterward, some might argue that Malaysia’s been on a better trajectory today thanks to that first exposé.

For women, making a change can sometimes be costly

If you’re a woman yourself, you might have noticed how sometimes it’s hard to speak up. You’ll get talked over, criticised for being too assertive, and have to act all feminine to avoid being judged by society. If you don’t fit the stereotype of being a woman, it’s hard to get taken seriously, if at all.

While we celebrate the improvements that these women bring to our country, we shouldn’t gloss over what it had cost them: their personal freedom, their public image, and even their lives. Should this always be the case? We surely hope not.

Here’s to a future Malaysia where women can make waves without fear.