THE Malaysian Employers’ Federation (MEF) has questioned the need for an Anti-Sexual Harassment Bill, which was expected to be tabled by the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry in Parliament this year.

It’s president Syed Hussain Syed Husman, who is also a member of the special project team for the bill, said MEF is of the view that the existing laws and regulations for sexual harassment would render the proposed provisions unnecessary.

In a statement, he said having a specific legislation on sexual harassment would also project a negative image of Malaysia to potential investors.

“As they may mistakenly believe that sexual harassment is a major issue in Malaysia when, in reality, it is isolated and manageable.”

He said the proposed bill should not be rushed before more detailed discussions were held with stakeholders.

“We had met to discuss the proposed bill with the ministry. We felt that there were still many outstanding issues that needed to be resolved,” he said.

“There is much ambiguity, especially (the) overlapping coverage of the proposed bill with the provisions in Part XVA of the Employment Act that covers workplaces and employer-employee relationships,” he said.

He said there are already provisions under the Penal Code, employment and civil laws, as well as tortious claims against any acts of sexual harassment.

Syed said in the perspective of private sector employers, the Employment Act 1955, the Code of Practice on Eradication of Sexual Harassment in the Workplace, the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994, and S.20 (1) of the Industrial Relations Act 1967 strongly govern any act of sexual harassment at the workplace.

“It is also common for employers to have their own policies and mechanisms to handle complaints of sexual harassment at the workplace as no employer would condone such acts,” he said.

“We are pleased to be able to engage with the relevant ministries to raise our concerns before the proposed bill is tabled in Parliament,” he said.

Syed reiterated that MEF is of the position that there is no objective for the proposed bill to be tabled in Parliament, considering that there are already adequate laws and provisions to address sexual harassment at the workplace.

He said they are concerned by the proposal to set up a specific tribunal for complaints on sexual harassment as the company’s internal processes may be by-passed and such scenarios could seriously disrupt industrial harmony, and must be avoided.

Last year, in the Voices of Malaysian Women on Discrimination and Harassment in the Workplace survey, the Women’s Aid Organisation found that more than 50% of the women surveyed said they had experienced at least one form of gender discrimination in the workplace.

This includes receiving comments or questions about their marital status or plans to start a family, being passed over for promotion in favour of less qualified colleagues, and being asked to do tasks that are not asked of male colleagues, such as making coffee and preparing refreshments.

The survey, in collaboration with research agency Vase.ai, collected insights from 1,010 Malaysian women and sought to understand the prevalence of and women’s experiences with workplace harassment and discrimination.

Forty-seven per cent of the women said that they were asked about their marital status during a job interview, while one in every five women (20%) said they were questioned on their ability to perform certain tasks “as a woman”.

The findings of the survey also showed a lack of understanding about what constitutes harassment, pointing further to a need to advocate for amendments to the laws as a way of creating public awareness about consent and also what constitutes appropriate behaviour. – September 16, 2021.