Most sexual harassment victims ashamed to complain

KOTA KINABALU: There is still a lot to be done to ensure victims of sexual harassment are not ashamed and afraid to come forward and lodge their complaint.

Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Yakub Khan said that about 80 per cent of sexual harasment victims in the country did not come forward to lodge a complaint.

He said that this was based on the statistics from the finding of a questionnaire conducted by the Women’s Development Department in 2019.

He said that based on the statistics, the number of victims who did come forward to make a complaint was still too low and as many as 80 per cent opted not to lodge a report against their perpetrators for various reasons such as phobia, shame and trauma.

He added that the questionnaire also found that out of the 28,852 respondents in Malaysia, only 1,796 (6.3 per cent) would lodge a report.

He also said that in the same study, a total of 17,925 respondents (62 per cent) felt that the existing laws are insufficient to handle sexual harrassment cases.

Yakub also said that in 2021, the Centre for Governance and Political Studies (CENT-GPS) found that 57 per cent of women between 18 years old and 30 years old have experienced habitual verbal sexual harrassment.

“This issue of sexual harassment also occurs in the workplace, which seems to have become a normal thing. Many consider the act to be just a joke or teasing to ease the work pressure at the office or it is done deliberately to attract the victim’s attention,” he said at the launch of the Sabah-level Labour Convention held at the Sutera Harbour Resort on Thursday.

“To create a conducive environment in the workplace, such acts must be viewed seriously. We are confident that if a minor act is allowed, it will worsen since the perpetrator thinks that the victim is accepting his or her action,” he said.

He added that sexual harassment is an impotant issue that needs to be combated because the effects of criminal misconduct can leave a deep impact, affect the psychological and physical development of the victim, thereby disrupting work harmony and contaminating the well-being of society.

He stressed that any form of sexual harassment should never be normalised, and the society should not tolerate any gesture or word that leads to such heinous acts, and needs to stop it immediately.

Yakub also said that his ministry will ensure policies linked to the development and management of human resource and capital in Sabah will be implemented to be in line with the Federal Government.

He added that the convention is the best vehicle to convey the government’s desire to ensure that all the policies that have been planned for the people return to the people.

In his speech, Yakub also said that the definition of sexual harassment is unwanted behavior through words, gestures, touch, psychological and visual elements of sex that are repeated.

“Society needs to be made aware that sexual behavior can occur in any form whether verbal, non-verbal, visual, gesture or physical directed at someone who offends, insults or threatens the victim. This includes looking or glancing at with sexual intentions or desires, sending or showing sexually explicit messages through electronic media, online, face-to-face and gestures implying sexual or other related conduct, all of which are included in the crime of sexual harassment,” he said.

Meanwhile, Sabah Labour Department director Wan Zulkfli Wan Setapa said that one of the ways to prevent sexual harassment at the workplace is the management making its stance against sexual harassment at work.

He said that the management could showcase their stance at the work area and also include the matter in the service contract.