By Geraldine Haruka Ling

Celebrating birthdays in school will never be the same again.

If the birthday girl is expecting her friends to sing her a happy birthday song, sure it'll happen - only after they have tied her to a pole, pelted her with cake and poured milk over her school uniform, as was the case with the Anglo Chinese Junior College (ACJC) ragging video.

"The girl was literally screaming for help, crying and bound," pointed out AsiaOne reader nairda3.

"Do you think a girl in her right mind - with peer pressure to conform - ever express her unhappiness?", he questioned.

Psychologist Dr Frederick Toke shared with AsiaOne that he believed most of the students who 'ragged' the girl were just having fun.

"But of course, there will always be the few who will take advantage of the occasion to show that they are 'powerful'," he said, adding that this minority appeared to thrive on such activities.

With these students around, a ragging which may start off innocently, can take on a sinister turn.

"They may egg or threaten others to go on when the rest want to stop," revealed Dr Toke, the director of the psychological studies programme at Lee Community College.

The hazing then turns into a mob-like bullying as the other less 'powerful' students comply because they are afraid of ending up as ragging 'victim', he added.

No one batted an eyelid

In an earlier report, an alumnus of a top JC in Singapore shared that no one batted an eyelid whenever they saw raggings being conducted as there had been no past reports of students being seriously hurt as a result.

Ragging activities are common in universities overseas and are getting increasingly common here in Singapore, he pointed out.

However, Dr Toke warned that there can be more serious - and unseen - repercussions of acts like the 'taupok'* and ramming a classmate's genitals into a pole.

"In serious cases, some victims may end up suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which will impede their daily functioning," he said.

PTSD sufferers may feel like they are not in control of their own emotions and end up withdrawn, disconnected, paranoid or numb as the event may have shattered their sense of safety and trust in others, explained  Dr Toke.

However, the more resilient ones, although shaken, can still go on with their daily affairs, he voiced.

Seeking help

In order to prevent a slide in the victims' psychological state, Dr Toke recommended that students who have been ragged seek help from a trained counsellor as the counsellor could provide an emotional outlet and help the pupil learn coping skills.

Even so, the story does not end here.

To date, most of the spotlight in the media or on online forums has been on the hazing 'victim' and has shed very little light on the ringleaders who turn the ragging into a violent event.

Some critics felt that these pranksters should be warned of the severity of their actions, while others said that they should be given a taste of their own medicine.

"These students crossed the morality line. It does not matter whether the ‘victim’ objected or not. If it is a wrong, it is a wrong," commented netizen bats4ever.

According to Dr Toke, families of these 'attackers' can also help their children by bringing them to see a counsellor or psychologist.

"Perhaps they would need to deal with their own insecurities if their actions were a result of a projection of unresolved anger within them," he said.

*The taupok treatment - One student proceeds to lie on top of the victim, while the rest follow suit, lying one on top of the other, so that the student at the bottom is forced to bear the brunt of all the students’ weight on him.