By Heidi Foo and Dharshini Balan

SEREMBAN, MALAYSIA: A report lodged by a schoolboy against a male teacher for allegedly molesting him has opened a can of worms.

Police revealed yesterday that more than 10 complaints had been lodged with the headmaster of the co-educational primary "vision" school against this 41-year-old teacher in the past year but no action had been taken.

State police chief Datuk Osman Salleh said they began investigating after receiving two reports against the teacher for allegedly molesting his male students.

Upon investigations with the school, he said police discovered the 10 boys had made complaints against the teacher so far.

"The irony is that none of these students lodged reports with the police until recently when two of the 10 students came forward.

"We visited the school and, upon checking their records, were shocked to find this teacher had been allegedly molesting numerous students over a period of time."

Police believe that some of the victims were now in secondary school.

"We will be recording statements from the teachers and students as well as friends of the alleged victims.

"It has so far been brought to our attention that some of the students were even asked to perform oral sex," he said, adding that some of the victims may have been too young to realise they were being sexually violated.

"This is a very difficult situation and we urge other victims to come forward. We assure the public that we will conduct a detailed investigation and get to the bottom of this."

Meanwhile, a senior teacher at the school told the New Straits Times that most of the teachers at the school knew about the "activities" of this particular teacher.

"The former headmaster of the school was well aware of what was going on, but for some reason chose to cover up for this teacher.

"We had confronted him on several occasions, but he simply brushed us off.

"From what some students told us, the teacher would give them money and gifts to buy their silence, while there was a time when he even gave one student a handphone," the teacher said.

The teacher also said there were instances when the male teacher would molest his students while on school trips and during Physical Education classes.

"We have also come to know that some students have also actually gone to his house after school on the pretext of attending tuition."

State Education Department director Datuk Abdullah Mohammad said there would be a meeting tomorrow to decide what disciplinary action should be taken against this teacher.

"If this matter is being investigated by the police, then we will not get involved.

"But on our part, we will conduct an investigation and also question the former headmaster and everyone else who may be related to this.

"This is a shocking and serious incident and appropriate action will definitely be taken," he said, adding that the department would give its full cooperation to the police

It was learnt that later yesterday, the teacher, who is married with a child, was asked to report to the Seremban district education department from today until further notice.