Young sorry for every child who was ever bullied

IN HIS first post Cabinet press conference, since he was sworn-in on Monday, Prime Minister Stuart Young said on March 20 that he was sorry for every child who has ever been bullied.

This as he faced questions by reporters after allegations arose that he had been involved in the bullying of a student, Imran Khan, when they attended CIC, 33 years ago. He refused to specifically apologise to Khan.

Speaking at Whitehall, St Ann's, Young was made to face questions after Khan's relatives took to social media to highlight the bullying of their loved one, by Young, from Form 1 straight up to Form 5.

Subsequent reports were that Khan finally snapped and attached Young with a baton which left the latter bloodied and bruised.

Told by a reporter that his opening remarks to reporters did not include any apology to Khan, Young said he came to address Cabinet matters. On the matter, he said people will always have different opinions, that the matter had been "a very traumatic incident" and that it had happened 33 years ago when he and Khan were teenagers.

Young said, "I am sorry for any child that had to endure bullying." He gave a commitment to address school bullying via his role as PM.

Saying experiences affect people's lives including his life, he said the incident had been "very, very unfortunate" and "very traumatic."

He said, "I can't change the past." He said bullying was a serious issue and he intended to take it up.

Young then said nowadays cyber bullying was very serious. "I am subject to cyber bullying." He said he is the subject of "a particular phrase that was not complimentary" which he described as a dog-whistle. He again apologised to every child that had every been bullied.

A reporter pressed to ask if he would apologise specifically to Khan and whether not doing so would affect him at the upcoming general election.

Saying he did not know what might affect him at the polls, Young replied, "I have presented myself to the population. I have addressed the Imran Khan issue very frontally and very carefully yesterday. I have added an addendum to that today.

"I have apologised to everyone who has been bullied, every child who has been bullied and that is as far as I will go at this stage. Thank you."