They harass and know how to get away with it. Not anymore, says Hannah Yeoh.

GEORGE TOWN: Bosses who are “skilled” in sexual harassment know how to take away their victims’ handphones after ordering them into a room so that their acts will not be recorded, said Deputy Women, Family and Community Development Minister Hannah Yeoh.

In past cases, “hardcore and serial” harassers could be very clever in stopping their victims from getting proof of the harassment, she added.

“We have dealt with such cases. That’s how we know. They are bosses and will order their women subordinates to leave their handphone or take it away first,” she said.

Yeoh added that there were also cases of female employers sexually harassing the men in their team.

For that reason, although Section 509 of the Penal Code clearly allows sexual harassers to be charged with insulting a person’s modesty, Yeoh said the burden of proof – beyond reasonable doubt – is too high.

Yeoh said one of the aims of the Sexual Harassment Bill, which her ministry will table in Parliament next year, would be to make it easier to charge these harassers in court.

She said between 2015 and last year, 47 sexual harassment cases were reported in the public service sector but none were taken to court.

“Twenty were given warnings, six were sacked, nine had their salaries suspended, six had their salaries cut, four were fined, one lost the right to emoluments and one was demoted,” she said.

In the private sector, she added, 65 cases were reported.

“It’s very hard for victims to prove sexual harassment. That’s why we need a specific law to tackle this,” she said.

Yeoh was speaking to reporters after opening the state’s roundtable discussion titled “Myths and Reality of Sexual Harassment: What’s Next?”

Moderated by Penang Women Development Corporation board member Syerleena Abdul Rashid, the panellists of the discussion comprised Public Service Department Psychology Management director Datuk Dr Ruziati Mior Ahamad Ariffin, Royal Malaysian Police Force representative Asst Supt Rizatulmi Haizaran, Flex Penang general man- ager Ooi Siew Mei and Women’s Aid Organisation advocacy manager Yu Ren Chung.

State Women and Family Development Committee chairman Chong Eng said the discussion would form an action plan that could be adopted by government bodies, companies and individuals to handle sexual harassment.

Women Development Department director-general Datuk Saidatu Akhma Hassan, who was present, said the discussion and decisions at the event would be used as input in drafting the Sexual Harassment Bill.