2025 Global Dialogue on Cyberbullying & Women, 3-Min Video Competition

On March 20, 2025, Taylor’s University, in partnership with the Japan Foundation Kuala Lumpur and the Impact Lab for Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions, is hosting a hybrid academic event called the “Global Dialogue on Cyberbullying & Women”. This article aims to dive deep into the global issue of cyberbullying that targets women. The event is based on the principles of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and it is a very crucial discussion. The event started off with Dr. Harmahinder Singh, from the Faculty of Business and Law and the Head of School of Law and Governance, giving an opening speech for the said event, emphasising the need and purpose of the event.

Image 1.0 shows the poster of the event

The event featured a keynote speech by Dr. Ayuchi Yamaoka, a super smart scholar from Tokyo University in Japan. She’s part of the Komaba Organization for Educational Excellence, and she talked about something really interesting titled “The Wounds in the Perpetrators: From the Perspective of Forensic Clinical Psychology.” Dr. Yamaoka took a different approach and focused on the psychology of people who bully others online. She's an expert in forensic clinical frameworks to explore how unresolved trauma, social conditioning, and how people form their identities can all influence how they bully. This new perspective helped the audience understand both the victims and the perpetrators better, and it might even lead to new ways to help people who bully and prevent it from happening in the future.

Next, an exciting dialogue segment featuring a panel of experts in gender advocacy, legal scholarship, and institutional policy-making. First up, we have Ms. Betty Yeoh, the co-founder of the All Women’s Action Society (AWAM) and a consultant at ENGENDER Consultancy. With decades of grassroots activism under her belt, Ms Betty Yeoh performed a presentation on deep diving the issues of cyberbullying and women in the modern era with online social media platforms, defined what constitutes a cyberbullying case and what are the possible reforms to be taken by the government. After that, she demonstrated how governance, public policy, and gender-based online violence intersect and may decrease the number of cyberbullying cases.

Image 2.0 shows Dr. Ayuchi Yamaoka giving keynote speech

Next, we have Dr. Mogana Sunthari Subramaniam, a Senior Lecturer at the School of Law and Governance at Taylor’s University. They gave us a legal and regulatory perspective on cyber-harassment and women’s digital rights. And finally, we have Dr. Sia Chin Chin, the Programme Director and Hub-Leader of the Peace, Justice & Strong Institution Lab at Taylor’s. Both of them shared multiple insights and statistics of cyberbullying cases reported across social media platforms, global trends of cyberbullying of women etc, which showed staggering and disturbing numbers of cases reported on it. Other than that, Dr. Jenita Kanapathy, also a Senior Lecturer and hub-leader at Taylor’s University, moderated the session. The panel discussion is all about fostering academic exchange and critical reflection on existing legal mechanisms and psychosocial support systems.

To encourage young people to speak up and share their thoughts on the issues, a 3-Minute Video Competition was held in conjunction to the said event. Students and young activists can participate in this competition and make short youtube videos on raising awareness about how cyberbullying affects women and suggest ways to stop it. The designated winners for first prize is none other than Daphne Ling Yen Zheng and Deborah Ong Jie En, with RM300 cash prize as an award to their dedication and spirit for the competition. This competition isn’t just about academics, it’s also about public scholarship by giving a voice to young people in the fight against cyberbullying. Link to the award-winning video: https://youtu.be/TCEyg0EVq1s

Image 3.0 shows the winners of the video competition with Benjamin (DEIC) as proxy

The event ended with the Head of School of Law and Governance, Dr. Harmahinder Singh, giving a token of appreciation to the distinguished speakers of the event. The Global Dialogue on Cyberbullying & Women is a great example of how different groups can work together to address gender-based issues in the digital age. It brings together psychology, law, activism, and creative media to understand and fight cyberbullying, consisting of over 140 participants from both online and physically. This strongly indicates that people need to work together to protect women’s online spaces and make sure that online abuse doesn’t happen and it shows that young people and students have a lot to advocate about these crucial issues.

  In short, this dialogue is a big step forward in talking about gender, violence, and digital citizenship. It shows that colleges and universities can make a difference in the world by doing research, talking to people, and coming up with new ideas. As cyberbullying gets worse, these events are more important than ever. They help us find solutions and build a better future for the society as a whole. Written by: Benjamin Chung Min Hun Edited by: Lee Mann Heyy