Amendments needed to sexual harassment laws in M’sia to protect individuals within organisations, says minister

KUCHING (Sept 1): Minister of Women, Family and Community Development Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri has called for amendments to the current sexual harassment laws in the country to better protect individuals’ right in organisations.

She said this is because there is a need for laws to extend beyond individual cases to include organisational responsibility.

“Currently, laws on sexual harassment are primarily focused on individuals, while there is a gap when it comes to holding organisations accountable.

“We need to amend existing legislation to ensure organisations can be held liable if they fail to address cases of sexual harassment and if we want to impose laws on organisations too,” she said during a press conference at Mydin Petra Jaya here today.

Apart from that, she also highlighted the importance of implementing measures that would require organisations to take proactive steps in addressing sexual harassment, rather than placing the burden solely on victims to report incidents.

Nancy said as the minister responsible, she would push for a study to be conducted on the matter so the necessary amendments can be made to existing legislation.

“There is a need to do a study on the matter because we want everyone who feels victimised to be protected by the law,” she said.

She revealed the proposed amendments would be made under the Anti-Sexual Harassment Act 2022, with the aim to strengthen the law and ensure fairness for all victims of sexual harassment, regardless of gender, within organisations.

The call for legal reform comes in the wake of a recent incident involving a senior bank official in Perak, who was accused of sexually harassing a female employee since 2021, while the bank has denied the allegations, sparking public outrage.

Prior to the press conference, Nancy was officiating the Santubong-level ‘Jiwa Komuniti Madani Programme’.

Also present was Sarawak Information Department director Helmy Hamid.