KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 27 — The International Women’s Alliance for Family Institution and Quality Education (WAFIQ) today urged authorities to look into cases of alleged sexual harassment in the country that have received extensive media coverage recently.
WAFIQ exco member Nur Farihah Meor Mazli also questioned the authorities’ silence, especially in the case of the allegations related to radio station BFM 89.9.
“The country was shocked by a recent email circulated to media portals accusing two male staff of sexually propositioning their female colleagues at BFM radio station.
“Sadly, there was a rather stony silence for an unspeakable crime, which happened in the very industry expected to spread awareness on the issue,” she said in a statement today.
Nur Farihah said sexual harassers should not be shown any leniency and must face the full brunt of the law.
In the statement, she cited a recent joint study conducted by WAFIQ, Centre for Human Rights Research Advocacy and Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia, and led by Assoc Prof Rafidah Hanim Mokhtar that showed 57.1 per cent of workplace harassment victims did not lodge any formal complaint as they felt no action will be taken by the authorities.
The data also found that 46.7 per cent did not know how to file a complaint, 13.3 per cent were afraid of the implications, while 13.3 per cent felt that they would be publicly humiliated.
“The problem is further compounded by the fact that there is no specific law governing sexual harassment at the workplace in Malaysia as yet, so yes, these survivors of sexual harassment have chosen to stay silent,” said Nur Farihah.
She urged victims to contact their human resource department, file a police report or seek assistance from women’s rights non-governmental organisations.
