Here is the link and an excerpt

The latest ragging tragedy that resulted in the death of a National Defence University of Malaysia (UPNM) student, naval cadet officer Zulfarhan Osman Zulkarnain, 21, has become an eye-opener to many parties. Many were quick to blame UPNM and the Military Training Academy (ALK) even though such a case should not be associated with the military institution as ragging occurs everywhere, and not just in military schools and institutions. It happens because there are a group of inhumane people who pay no heed to religious education and are heartless enough to torture their own friend or family member to death.

In retrospect, back in March 24, 1988, a case of ragging also caused the death of a Form Five student, Hishamuddin Majid, from Sekolah Menengah Teknik (SMT), Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, who was bullied in the school toilet at around 11.30am by several former students who came to school to take their SPM results.

After being bullied Hishamuddin told his teacher he felt unwell and sought permission to return to his dormitory, without reporting the incident. Around 7.30pm that night, some students reported to the warden that Hishamuddin was in pain and he was immediately taken to the hospital by the warden. Shortly after being warded, the doctor broke the news of Hishamuddin’s passing at 8.50pm. Post-mortem results revealed Hishamuddin passed away due to the loss of blood from a ruptured spleen.

Two former students who were involved were indicted in the Juvenile Court and the case dragged on until the early 1990s. The accused were charged under Section 304A of Malaysian Penal Code for culpable homicide not amounting to murder, which carries a jail term for a maximum of 20 years and liability of a fine, if convicted.

The court case had unveiled a few new findings. Among them, how it was a tradition for seniors to give a nickname to a chosen junior in an initiation ceremony. Hishamuddin had been given the nickname “Pell” and had to undergo a “test” that involved physical assault. A student who witnessed the ordeal told the court that he saw one of the accused beating Hishamuddin. He then saw another student placing his palm on Hishamuddin’s forehead while doing a ‘starlight’ sign then flicking his middle finger. After that, he went out of the toilet without knowing the result of the “test”.

Moderator: Hank Nuwer.  Even as a boy I was a sucker for any well-written memoir carried in magazines with names like True, Country Gentleman and Collier’s. My mother was pretty overprotective, but her one nod to my liberty was to allow me to walk about 15 minutes west on Walden Avenue to Novak’s Drugstore, which straddled the line between Cheektowaga and Buffalo, NY.  Somehow I developed a friendship with Mr. Novak that led to his permitting me to gently read through all of his magazines on the visible rack, although forbidding me from reading the enticing ones behind the counter that displayed only their titles. Anyway, today I get similar pleasure from reading first-person accounts in magazines, book memoirs and in blogs. One entry that caught my attention today in Warsaw where I am spending the summer was the store of a “plebe sneak” at West Point.

Here is the author’s bio: After starting a job with IBM as a System z Client Architect, Sean P. McBride founded Millennial Mainframer as a platform for young IT professionals to express thought leadership around the mainframe space while networking and sharing lessons learned. Sean is a former Army Officer and West Point graduate interested in history and technology.

I’ll start you off with a brief excerpt and furnish a link so you can finish the piece. Great job, Mr. McBride, SIR!

Excerpt:

Today is December 1, 2013. Today I turn twenty-eight years old. Today is also approximately the ten year anniversary of the most interesting “birthday party” I’ve ever been to. . . .

Ten years ago, I was a first-year cadet at the United States Military Academy at West Point. First-year cadets at West Point are called “plebes,” which is a Latin term that denotes the underclass. Much like the barbarism of antiquity, plebes at a military academy are treated like crap. They clean the barracks, deliver the newspapers, pick up the trash or recyclables, march not walk, and salute all of their superiors with a chipper attitude. They also are expected to memorize the meals of the day, the football schedule, the main articles of the New York Times, West Point lore, and errata about the heroes of the American Empire.  Failure of any of these tasks is never pretty.

The corps of cadets is organized into companies of around 120 cadets each, and each company has a slightly different culture. To my misfortune, I was a plebe in company A-2, known as the Spartans. Due to the historical legacy of Spartan military discipline and oppression of the enslaved Helot underclass, company A-2 was well known for their thorough and systematic hazing their Plebes.

At West point, there is one socially sanctioned avenue for plebes to exact revenge on especially brutal upperclassmen: the “Birthday Party.” In such a birthday party, the plebes break into the upperclassman’s room, tie them up, and demean them in some way. Often this might be tying them up, placing them in the communal open shower, and spraying they with ketchup, mustard, etc. stolen from the mess hall. Of course, the specific recipe of revenge would always slightly vary from upperclassman to upperclassman.

So there was one Spartan upperclassman that was considered especially mean and vindictive towards the plebes. He loved to ask obscure and seemingly impossible-to-memorize trivia in the hope of being able to scream at and bully a plebe. Considering that his grades weren’t great, his physical fitness was poor, and other aspects of his life likely sucked, bullying seventeen and eighteen year old plebes was likely the high point of his life. Given his general asshole-ish-ness, it was guaranteed that this guy was going to get one hell of a “birthday party.”

So the Spartan plebes geared up as if for the battle of Thermopylae. We put on football equipment used by the intramural football team. We drew battle plans and planned to stay in formation to be able to overwhelm the upperclassman and subdue him quickly and painlessly. Unfortunately, things didn’t work out to plan.

See link to rest of story, please. –Hank Nuwer

In depth look at underground Greek groups, including some gone rogue. 

Factchecking the alcohol statistics: Moderator

Moderator: Here is the Link

Excerpt to the 4 ideas: