BE it Miley Cyrus, Karla Chubb from the Irish punk brand Sprints, DJ Soda, Taylor Swift or Malaysia’s Nurul Ashiqeen Johari, none has been spared the trauma of being groped.

In Nurul’s case, her agony was made worse by the insensitivity displayed by the police with questions such as, “Why didn’t you do this or that? Why didn’t you stay with the man who groped you and call the police immediately?”

Clearly, Royal Malaysia Police (RMP) top brass have not done enough to gender sensitise their boys in blue. Time and again, sexual abuse survivors have complained about the harsh questioning methods employed by the police.

In Nurul’s case, she struggled to explain to the cops that it was fear for her life that left her not dashing to the police station pronto. The cops, however, dismissed her concerns. She was also admonished for posting about her August 16, 10.30pm nightmare in Petaling Street, also popularly called Chinatown.

“They scolded me for doing so and said they couldn’t help find the culprit because I didn’t have enough details about him. I only posted it online hoping someone would recognise the man,” an English daily had quoted her as saying.

Groping was not the only anguish assailing Nurul that night. A sergeant at another police station was more excited about her social media activity and not the incident that left her shaken. To add salt to injury, he accused her of seeking attention online.

“I couldn’t believe it. I’m the victim, and they’re making me feel like I’m at fault and that the harasser is the real victim. I asked how women are supposed to protect themselves, and they told me I needed solid proof.”

One hour of being made to wait was painful enough but there was more coming Nurul’s way. The sergeant began flirting with her, asking Nurul out for a drink despite being aware her boyfriend was waiting outside the police station.

“The sergeant said he was glad I made the report because it gave him a chance to meet me. He even mentioned that he would come to my shows. His behaviour was completely unprofessional.”

Nurul said the sergeant later apologised for his behaviour and told her it was meant as a “joke.”

It had been an emotionally and mentally painful night for Nurul. Yet, she was not out to condemn police officers through her post. Her message was this – law enforcement officers should know better than to ridicule sexual abuse survivors.  

Nurul was taken aback that the perpetrator had the audacity to publicly grope her. She managed to get a picture of him which was featured in her post.

“I was shocked and scared to react, if he’s that bold in front of everyone, who knows what else he’s capable of?”

“It’s sad that women aren’t safe, even in crowded places!” she shared.

“Unfortunately, sometimes even the police aren’t much help, so it’s up to us to do whatever we can to stay safe,” she wrote in the caption of her post.

Police need to be gender sensitised

For the longest time, women’s groups have complained about the lack of empathy plaguing the police in dealing with cases involving domestic violence, rape and sexual harassment survivors. 

Are the police at liberty to treat survivors of abuse at their whims and fancies?

Had Nurul cowered to fear and suffered in silence, the truth of Malaysia’s cops’ notoriety in dealing abuse survivors would have gone unreported.

The report aside, Nurul perhaps should take cognisance of how her counterparts abroad decided to deal with the groping issue.

In 2015, five young British women, all who had been groped at gigs, decided enough was enough. They formed a group called Girls Against.

Girls Against’s aim was to see changes in attitude via raising awareness and getting more bands to talk about it. They said if other artists told fans it was wrong, people who did it would feel stupid if their favourite band had called them out about it.

Girls Against happened after 17-year-old Hannah Camilleri was inappropriately touched at a concert. 

“I was in shock,” she told Newsbeat then. “I didn’t really know what had happened and I didn’t tell my friends, which is unusual for me.”

Girls Against went on to receive a lot of messages from other fans who have had similar experiences, some of which they described as “harrowing”.

Girls Against had then tweeted (now X) about groping being no less serious than sexual assault.

Assistant Commissioner Martin Hewitt from The National Police Chiefs’ Council of the UK was quoted as saying: “It is important that we recognise that all sexual assaults are assaults and calling it groping doesn’t make it any less serious.

“These incidents should not happen and I support any action to sensibly tackle these crimes.”

Back home, what have Inspector-General of Police Razarudin Husain or his deputy Ayob Khan to say about the uncouth behaviour of cops who handled Nurul’s groping case? – August 28, 2024.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.