Be Excellent To Each Other

A Malaysian schoolboy was forced to smoke 42 cigarettes in two hours by his English teacher after she found a cigarette in his locker, a newspaper has reported.

The punishment dished out to 16-year-old Mohd Alif Arifin left him unable to eat for nearly a week because he kept coughing and had swollen lips, the boy's aunt told the New Straits Times.

Fourth form student Alif, who claimed he knew nothing of the cigarette in his locker, told the paper: "It went on for more than two hours.

"I was forced to smoke four cigarettes at a time until I finished 42 cigarettes."

After his punishment, which was witnessed by other students and teachers, Alif was sent home from his school in the northern Malaysian island of Langkawi.

His aunt Faridah Mat Zain, who has cared for her nephew since the death of his parents, told the New Straits Times: "The school told me he wasn't feeling well.

"He was coughing continuously and he was very quiet. But two days later, I noticed his lips were swollen and got him to tell me what happened. He couldn't eat for five days."

Alif was taken to a clinic which referred him to Langkawi Hospital, she said.

A school official said the institute had apologised to the boy's uncle, who lodged a police report when he found out about the punishment.

"This is not normal. We don't do that often," the official said.

He added it was up to the state's education department to take action against the teacher.

In 2007, another Malaysian teacher was reprimanded after she made almost 140 teenage girls squat in a pond at a boarding school as punishment for clogging the toilets.

The punishment caused an outcry, leading to Malaysia's Education Ministry to announce it would issue specific guidelines on how teachers should discipline students.

The government permits boys to be whipped with a rattan cane in schools for such offenses as smoking, vandalism and harming others.

"This is not normal. We don't do that often," the official said.

I would like to be the kid in that school who gets caught getting off with another pupil in the supply closet.