A video showing a group of students doing push-ups under the scorching sun at what is believed to be a polytechnic has gone viral on Reddit.
The clip, originally from TikTok user @ennntahhhlahhh, sparked a debate over the practice of collective punishment. The caption on the video read, “Is this PLKN or polytechnic? We just joined and it’s only day 2.”
A Reddit user, @Ha-kyaa, claiming to be one of the students at Politeknik Kuching Sarawak, confirmed the incident, stating, “I was wondering why they were doing push-ups earlier that morning.”
The conversation quickly escalated, with many users expressing outrage over the harsh and seemingly unnecessary punishment. User @Hamdster shared a personal experience of getting a “first-degree burn during kawad punishment in middle school,“ questioning the necessity of such actions.
This led to a wider discussion on discipline and its effectiveness. User @Aeyith offered a balanced view, suggesting that while the punishment was “terrible” without good reason, it could be “deserved” for teaching discipline. However, this was met with strong disagreement.
@Weary_Information_77 highlighted the injustice of collective punishment, especially when students “didn’t ask to be there,“ and raised concerns about the risk of heat stroke or burns. The user also pointed out the potential for management to “taichi the blame onto the trainers” if anything goes wrong.
User @bronzelifematter warned that punishing students for someone else’s mistake teaches them to “lie and protect bullies,“ which could lead to bullying going unreported.
Beyond the issue of punishment, many comments focused on the dangers of sun exposure and the lack of awareness about sun safety in Malaysia. @Own-Crew-213, a user who lived in Australia, noted that Malaysians “don’t realise how damaging the sun is,“ and that many grow up with bad skin and acne because no one teaches them about sunscreen. @aquatic_asian added that while Australia has a higher risk of skin cancer due to the ozone layer, Malaysia’s UV levels are also “scary,“ yet people still associate using sunscreen or a UPF umbrella with being “girlish.”
