PETALING JAYA: Tabling of the Sexual Harassment Bill in the next parliamentary session should be prioritised while schools and universities should strengthen their anti-sexual harassment policies and codes of practice to deal with cases of sexual harassment.
Making this call, the Women’s Affairs Division (Helwa) of the Muslim Youth Movement of Malaysia (Abim) said it takes seriously the exposure by a group of students of the sexual harassment by a foundation studies lecturer.
It was also shocked by a student’s disclosure about cheap and outrageous jokes which make one of the forms of sexual harassment by her teacher in the classroom.
”This series of stories shows that some people still underestimate the issue of dignity, manners, and values in daily interaction, especially in educational institutions,” Helwa Abim vice-president Fatin Nur Majdina Nordin (pix) said today.
“The various reactions to this issue also show our failure to look at the issue objectively. Harassment through sarcasm and outrageous jokes will cause discomfort and damage to dignity.”
