Bullying as a Crime: Penal Code Sections 507B-507G and the Anti-bully Act 2026

Since 11 July 2025 bullying has had its own place in the Penal Code. Six new sections, 507B to 507G, make it an offence to threaten, abuse or insult a person so as to harass or frighten them, to make someone believe that harm is coming, and to publish a person’s identity information for those purposes, whether face to face or online. Parliament has since added a second law, the Anti-bully Act 2026.

This explainer sets out what the new provisions cover, how they differ from one another, and what they mean for parents, schools, employers and anyone who posts online.

How the amendments became law

The changes were made by the Penal Code (Amendment) Act 2025 (Act A1750). It received royal assent on 25 February 2025, was gazetted on 7 March 2025 and came into force on 11 July 2025. The new sections follow section 507A, the stalking offence, and like it they are of general application: there is no separate rule for schools, workplaces or the internet.

The new offences at a glance

• Section 507B: using threatening, abusive or insulting words or communication with intent to cause harassment, distress, fear or alarm.

• Section 507C: the same kind of conduct where it is likely to cause harassment, distress, fear or alarm.

• Section 507D: conduct that causes a person to believe that harm will be caused, with an aggravated form where provocation leads the victim to attempt or commit suicide.

• Sections 507E and 507F: doxxing, that is, publishing a person’s identity information in order to harass, or to cause fear of harm.

• Section 507G: definitions, including harm, identity information and related person.

Intention on one side, likely effect on the other

The pairing of sections 507B and 507C, and of 507E and 507F, is deliberate. One offence in each pair turns on what the accused meant to do. The other turns on the likely or feared effect of the conduct. For a complainant, this means that a case does not necessarily fail because intent is hard to prove. For a person accused, it means that calling the conduct a joke is not necessarily an answer. The provisions extend to online conduct, so group chats, comments and direct messages are all within reach.

What the penalties look like

The penalties vary from section to section. The heaviest, imprisonment of up to 10 years, attaches to the aggravated form of the section 507D offence, where provocation leads to a suicide or an attempted suicide. A ministerial statement reported by Bernama gave 10 years as the maximum across the new provisions. We have not set out the penalties for the other sections because we could not check them against the official text of Act A1750. Readers should consult the Act.

When the alleged bully is a child

Many bullying complaints involve schoolchildren, and the ordinary rules on children apply. Under sections 82 and 83 of the Penal Code a child under ten commits no offence, and a child above ten and under twelve is liable only with sufficient maturity of understanding. Charges against older children go to the Court for Children, which under section 11(5) of the Child Act 2001 tries all offences except those punishable with death. Section 15 of that Act prohibits media reports that identify the child.

A second track: the Anti-bully Act 2026

The Penal Code punishes. The Anti-bully Act 2026 is designed to do something different. Parliament passed the Bill, reportedly in December 2025, a step the Malaysian Bar publicly welcomed, and the Act is reported to have come into force in stages in 2026. According to published summaries, it sets up an Anti-bully Tribunal able to make civil-style orders in cases involving children and students, such as an apology, the removal of content, counselling and compensation, reported as up to RM250,000. We have not been able to check these details against the gazetted text, so they should be treated as indicative only.

The Zara Qairina proceedings, as context only

Many readers will be following the proceedings concerning 13-year-old Zara Qairina Mahathir, who died in Sabah in July 2025. An inquest opened before the coroner in Kota Kinabalu on 3 September 2025 and is continuing. On 22 June 2026, after 74 hearing days, the coroner fixed 23 October 2026 as the final hearing date. There is no verdict, and we say nothing about the evidence or the cause of death. An inquest is not a trial: a coroner inquires into the cause and manner of a death and does not decide guilt.

Separately, according to published reports, five teenagers were charged in the Court for Children in Kota Kinabalu in August 2025 under section 507C(1) and pleaded not guilty. Their identities are protected, and the Attorney General’s Chambers was reported as saying that the charge is not linked to the cause of death. We could not confirm the current status of that case, which should be treated as pending.

Practical takeaways

• Parents: keep evidence. Dated screenshots showing usernames and group names matter, and a police report can now point to a specific offence.

• Young people: posting someone’s personal details to shame or frighten them can be an offence in itself, not merely bad manners.

• Schools: review reporting procedures so that serious cases are escalated and not only settled informally.

• Employers: the offences apply in the workplace as they do anywhere else, and complaints should be handled with that in mind.

• Everyone online: the test may be the likely effect of your words, not only what you intended.

Authorities and sources

• Penal Code, sections 82, 83, 507A and 507B to 507G; Penal Code (Amendment) Act 2025 (Act A1750)

• Anti-bully Act 2026; Child Act 2001, sections 11(5) and 15

• Bernama, 2025 (ministerial statement on the Penal Code amendments); Wolters Kluwer Malaysia, commentary on the 2025 amendments; Aliran, 13 May 2025

• The Edge Malaysia, December 2025, and Malaysian Bar press statement on the passing of the Anti-Bully Bill 2025

• Malay Mail, 22 June 2026 (inquest hearing dates)

This article is general legal information only and is current as at 19 September 2026. It is not legal advice and does not create a solicitor-client relationship. Court decisions may be appealed and the law may change; please seek advice on your own circumstances. — Chris & Partners, Advocates & Solicitors