KUALA LUMPUR, March 24 — Keretapi Tanah Melayu Bhd (KTMB) has provided a pink coach specially for women passengers in its commuter train service for the past eight years but it appeared to be not meeting its objectives.

The special coach which promised better security for women passengers, was frequently intruded by male passengers and there were cases of sexual harassment and quarrels between male and female passengers in the coach.

In this regard, the Malaysian Women Unity Association (Perwim) urged the government to formulate a special legislation to enable action to be taken against men who abused the coach.

Its chairman, Ema Syuhaili Datuk Sukor said regulations were important to ensure men adhere to the law and prevent women passengers from being harassed by irresponsible men.

"There were many such cases faced by women passengers and the problem continued as there was no legal action. The authorities should not take the matter lightly,” she told Bernama.

Ema Syuhaili also proposed that KTMB put up more emergency bells in the pink coach to enable faster assistance if an untoward incident occurred.            

She said Perwim was also prepared to cooperate with KTMB to hold an awareness campaign to educate members of the public on the ethics of using the special coach.    

Meanwhile, Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Ab Aziz Kaprawi said the government was now formulating a legislative amendment to enable actions to be taken against men who entered the women coach.

"For the time being, there are no regulations to enable action to be taken. Nonetheless, KTMB will continue to monitor the coach randomly at Komuter stations,” he told Bernama via WhatsApp.

Crime analyst Kamal Affandi Hashim said male passengers who entered the pink coach should be made aware and feel ashamed of their action.

"The problem relates to the moral principle of a man. Men should advise and warn other male passengers from abusing the coach.

"Even though there are no laws, men should be aware that the women’s coach was set up to prevent criminal activities such as snatch thefts and sexual harassment in an overcrowded train,” he said.

Apart from monitoring by the authorities, Kamal Affandi said men should play their role to curb the problem and reduce criminal activities in public transport.

In a statement recently, KTMB said it was reviewing the operating procedure of the pink coach to ensure only women used the women’s coach.    

Meanwhile, a Bernama survey found men were still travelling in the women’s coach without any feeling of guilt or shame and were seen as outright violating the regulation even though there were many notices inside and outside of the coach.

Women passengers met were generally unhappy with the intrusion of male passengers in the pink coach.     

Universiti Teknologi Mara Perlis graduate, Nur Azreen Mohd Abdul Jalil, 23, wanted the authorities to look into the matter seriously to safeguard women travelling by train.

A Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia student Wan Nur Hidayah Zahari, 21, hoped KTM security personnel would be posted outside the coach to prevent men from entering the pink coach. — Bernama