Lack of political will behind long wait for anti-sexual harassment law

 

A lack of political will when it comes to issues seen to be pertaining only to women is the key reason the law against sexual harassment is still in the works 20 years since it was first drafted.

All Women's Action Society's (Awam) services manager Lilian Kok said this is because there is a misconception that such issues do not concern the greater masses.

"There is a lack of political interest in managing women's issues in this country.

"When bringing up issues on a policy level, people want to take up issues with the massive public interest.

"In the past decade or two, (this issue) has been narrated as a women's issue, but thankfully that narrative has changed in the past five years," Kok said at a panel discussion in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday (May 31).

Kok said the change is owing to greater public discourse on sexual harassment and how it is not just an issue which affects women.

The interest was given to the matter by the previous Pakatan Harapan government, which set it on the state agenda and also moved the cause forward.

Lilian Kok of Awam

This led to the bill being tabled in Parliament in December 2021, although work still needs to be done to fill the loopholes and gaps in the draft legislation to ensure it is effective, she said.

Kok was speaking at a panel discussion following the documentary "The Boys Club" by filmmaker Yihwen Chen, which dealt with Chen's experience of sexual harassment while producing a film for a news organisation in Malaysia.

"Whether there is political interest this round. I think there is, due to public communications (on the issue) and thanks to events like this film.

"We want to have discourse, and that happens when the public talks about it," Kok said.

Speakup Malaysia's Emilia Shariff said the key to making sexual harassment a national agenda is to show that it is not just a women's issue, and this can be done by including men in the conversation.

"It's a national issue, not just for your daughters but also your sons. Include men in the conversation. Otherwise, this issue will not be pushed," she said.

Dealing with sexual harassment complaints at the workplace

However, Emilia noted that there are already ways that society can better deal with sexual harassment and protect survivors, even without legislation in place.

This includes having mechanisms for dealing with sexual harassment in the workplace and ensuring fewer barriers to speaking up against harassment.

"Typically, an organisation has processes for complaints, whether formal or informal. Informal would be talking to a team leader, where potentially this could be something that can be reconciled.

"But in my experience, there is a lot of gatekeeping. People say victims or bystanders must speak up, but speaking up on its own won't work.

"When you tell your employees to speak up, do you have the mechanism to support leaders or people with the tools to listen (to the complaints)?" Emilia asked.

She said organisations need to know that complaints should not just be dealt with by heads of departments and that investigations must be conducted, even if the heads of departments do not believe there is merit in the complaint.

"Once the (investigation) is done, decisions can be made, and it doesn't mean it should favour the complainant," she said.

The Sexual Harassment Bill was tabled for first reading in the Dewan Rakyat in December last year.

Its main aim is to establish a tribunal for the hearing of sexual harassment complaints and claims.

However, in February, women's rights groups and MPs sought a review of the bill to address gaps and to make it more survivor-centric.

MPs also called for the bill to be discussed at a select committee so it can be improved before it is tabled for second reading.

Among others, advocates called for the bill to include organisational duties to prevent and address sexual harassment, extend the definition of sexual harassment in the bill and include a clause protecting complainants to ensure that survivors and victims feel safe in reporting their experiences.

In March, the Attorney-General Chambers told a civil society group on the matter that it is undertaking a review of the bill and hopes it can be tabled for second reading in Parliament next month. - Mkini