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itting on the 21st floor of the Nusantara I building in the House of Representatives complex, Theresia Ebenna Ezeria Pardede recounted her time in high school when she was bullied - and went on to become a bully herself.

"The bullying I got was not only from seniors, but also from teachers. I experienced all kinds of bullying, from verbal to physical," Theresia, now a lawmaker, told SundayPost recently.

The 31-year-old former singer por-trays bullying as kind of a contagious negative behavior that threatens youths and could create a repetitive social disease if not handled properly.

Bullying is in fact a form of violence - an act of repeated aggressive behavior intended to hurt another person, physically or mentally. Acts of bullying include humiliating, insulting, mocking, attacking, threatening, blackmailing and beating the victims.

There are three roles in bullying: perpetrator, victim and bystander. Bullying can lead to two different results - the actors can become aggressive or passive. In Theresia's case, she transformed from a victim into a perpetrator.

"I am not ashamed to admit that I was once a victim and then became a perpetrator," she said. "The most important thing now is stopping this chain of violence."

Ratih Ibrahim, the director of Personal Growth, said bullying can occur anywhere, not just in schools.

Bullying can also exist among co-workers, bosses and subordinates in workplaces. At home, bullying can occur between husbands and wives, children and parents, or among neighbors and communities.

At schools, bullying can happen between teachers and students, teachers and teachers, headmasters and teachers or among students.

"There are many causes of bullying - either the victims are rich, smart, of darker complexion or smaller build - but the bottom line is victims get bullied because they are powerless and can be intimidated easily," Ratih said.

However, behind their violent behavior, bullies maintain feelings of disappointment, loneliness, unhappiness and inferiority, she said, adding that it was likely that bullies had unhappy backgrounds or traumatic childhood experiences that had damaged their self-esteem.

"Bullying in schools is just a small reflection of what really happens in homes and in society in general. It is just the tip of the iceberg," she said.

Diena Haryana, the chairwoman of Semai Jiwa Amini (Sejiwa), said the number of bullying cases reported increased every year.

Established in 2004, Sejiwa is a non-profit organization focusing on anti-bullying programs. According to Sejiwa records, one student died during student orientation week (MOS) in 2007; there were seven casualties last year.

"Over the past few years we have seen a surge in bullying cases at schools. I'm worried that it's the result of an accumulation of hard education," Diena said.

Having visited Ambon a few days earlier, Diena had seen that bullying flourished in an education system that involved violence. She had witnessed a teacher who took a long rattan cane to class and beat the children with it whenever they made mistakes.

Unfortunately, parents allow schools to continue committing such acts of violence, she said, adding that some parents encouraged corporal punishment if children misbehaved.

"But this violence is not isolated to Ambon. I come across this kind of thing all the time, all over Indonesia," she said.

Diena said students would not be able to embrace their full potential if they go to school in fear. Bullying also erases feelings of mutual respect among the actors involved.

"When children get bullied, they will retain memories of the experience in their subconscious until they grow up and join society. If bullying is not stopped, perpetrators, victims and bystanders will think it is all right to oppress or hurt other people," she said.

People often think bullying only comprises beating and other physical abuse, but it is in fact any activity that incites rejection of the victims, including insults or a bad attitude. Bullying may seem like a small thing, but it can actually affect the personality of the victims and bystanders.

Take the example of young celebrity Marshanda, who made a video that was posted on YouTube.

In the video, Marshanda badmouths her junior high school friends, who were rude to her in elementary school.

In extreme cases, verbal bullying leads to death, as victims can no longer bear the constant humiliation. Such cases often occur among teenagers, who are still searching for their identity and need to be accepted by their peers.

In 2005, Fifi Kusrini, 13, a student of SMPN 10 Bantar Gebang, committed suicide after her friends bullied her, saying over and over again that she was only the daughter of a porridge vendor.

A similar case was recorded in 2006: Linda Utami, 15, an eighth-grader at SMPN 12 South Jakarta hanged herself in her bedroom out of shame because her friends often made fun of her for not passing a grade.

Now that communication knows no boundaries of time and place, bullying has taken a new form - cyber bullying, which is sending or posting text messages and images intended to hurt other people's feelings.

Diena is a witness to cyber bullying, of which her own daughter has become a victim. She said her daughter had received several negative comments through Facebook and was upset by them.

"I told her that she should not take the words to heart. My daughter has me to comfort her.

"But what about other kids whose parents do not understand this bullying thing? It's really a concern," she said.

Diena said bullying also existed in video games and on TV, including in Indonesian soap operas or sinetron and in the Century Bank special committee hearings.

"I feel uncomfortable hearing things on TV. Politicians don't realize that the public could follow their attitude," she said.

Recognizing the threat bullying poses for our future, Theresia is currently working with other legislators to make anti-bullying issues part of the law.