A group of NGOs have revived calls for the government to table the Sexual Harassment Bill following the latest allegations of sexual misconduct at educational facilities.
The urged Women, Family and Community Development Minister Rina Harun and Education Minister Mohd Radzi Jidin to take the experiences of students seriously and push ahead with the promised tabling of the bill.
They also want the government to set up a framework for protecting students from harassment and predatory behaviour.
“These incidents point to a larger issue in managing sexual harassment cases […]
“Ultimately, survivors are at the mercy of individual policies and guidelines of their universities and schools, where existent. The absence of a standardised framework for the prevention and management of sexual harassment cases enables institutions to protect perpetrators absolving them of accountability.
“This protects individuals in positions of power, such as lecturers. This is extremely dangerous and detrimental for student survivors, as evidenced in the poor management by University of Malaya’s Integrity Unit last year.
“A poll on sexual harassment conducted by the All Women’s Action Society (Awam) found that 59 percent of respondents did not report the incident, with one reason being fear of repercussion as the perpetrator was in a position of power.
“Sexual harassment must be stopped. We must not protect perpetrators any longer and the ministries of women and education are directly mandated to keep students safe from sexual exploitation,” they said in a joint statement today.
The statement is issued by the Women’s Aid Organisation, and also endorsed by 16 other groups including Awam, Sisters in Islam, Undi 18, and several student groups.
The statement came after former students accused a foundation lecturer at a Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) campus in Selangor of sexual grooming and harassment.
UiTM has lodged a police report and a complaint with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission over the allegations, and pledged to conduct an internal investigation as well.
The allegation is only the latest in a string of sexual misconduct claims involving schools and universities.
In May, Universiti Malaya student Soleil Ching (not her real name) said she is filing a civil suit against an associate professor who sexually harassed her two years ago.
The move came after the university’s Integrity Unit failed to reveal the punishment meted out against the culprit based on her official complaint, while police stopped pursuing the issue on grounds that the now-retired associate professor had faced disciplinary action.
In April, 17-year-old Ain Husniza Saiful Nizam exposed a male teacher’s rape jokes in class, but suffered backlash including a rape threat from a schoolmate.
Citing a 2019 survey YouGov, WAO said 28 percent of Malaysian respondents said they have experienced sexual harassment. One-fifth of them occurred in schools and universities.
Previously, Rina had assured that the Sexual Harassment Bill - which has received bipartisan support - would be debated in the Dewan Rakyat this year.
However, these plans were put on hold after the proclamation of emergency since Jan 11 suspended parliamentary proceedings.
The Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Abdullah Ahmad Shah has said that Parliament should reconvene immediately, but also said this is to debate the emergency ordinances and the national recovery plan. - Mkini
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