Wheres the anti-hysteria kit when you need it?
A spate of cases on hysteria at SMK Pengkalan Chepa 2, Kota Baru, has the nation wondering how to deal with such a situation. The authorities decided to close down the school after a “black figure” was captured on camera. The picture is currently making its rounds on social media.
The news has gotten international press recognition, most recently being covered by UK paper The Telegraph detailing the issue with testimony from teachers and students.
Back home in Malaysia, this latest case is simply one in a string of others.
Flashback to May 2015: Less than a year ago, a lecturer from Universiti Malaysia Pahang released an anti-hysteria kit. In fact, Dr Mahayuddin Ismail from the university’s Centre for Modern Languages and Human Sciences still has a web page on the university website promoting his “pre-commercial” product.
I remember this case because the vice-chancellor of the university, Dr Daing Nasir Ibrahim, had even gone to the press, exclaiming that this product from his institution had worked at the Education Ministry’s office in Putrajaya on April 30.
The kit includes salt, vinegar, black pepper and even chopsticks, priced at RM8,500. The price includes expert training, further treatment if cases are chronic, three refills for items in the kit, a lecture session, risk management costs and even online consultation services.
After the kit’s media coverage received brickbats, the lecturer himself came out to say that the kit worked on 50 cases successfully. In fact, Mahyuddin went so far as to say that the kit had been used in cases in schools in Kedah successfully.
However, he didn’t name the schools.
Putting this aside, if Mahyuddin is truly serious about promoting his kit, and the media is open to reminding our government and the Universiti Malaysia Pahang of their so-called discovery, then perhaps it is time to ask if the lecturer and the university will be assisting with the case in Kota Baru.
And if our government is serious about promoting so-called “Malaysian-made solutions”, then the Ministry of Education should have no problem footing the bill provided that the kit by Mahyuddin works.
It’s a win-win situation for us all. Proving the kit works would mean that the university has more testimony of its effectiveness, the spate of hysteria in a school can now be put to rest and Malaysia can now promote a homegrown solution that can be internationally recognised.
However, if it fails, we may perhaps need to reconsider if Daing Nasir and Mahyuddin deserve to be in academia and science.
Hafidz Baharom is an FMT reader.
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