Sexual Harassment Act in Malaysia(Malay Version)

Uqbah Iqbal^*

Department of Social Sciences and Humanities, National University of Malaysia, Bangi Selangor, Malaysia.

Corresponding Author:

Uqbah Iqbal
History Programme
Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities
National University of Malaysia
UKM 43650, Bangi Selangor, Malaysia
Tel: 60389215555
E-mail: uqbah@siswa.ukm.edu.my

Received Date: May 17, 2016; Accepted Date: June 17, 2016; Published Date: June 20, 2016

Citation: Iqbal U (2016) ‘Sexual Harassment Act in Malaysia’ (Malay Version). J Civil Legal Sci S1:006. doi: 10.4172/2169-0170.1000S1:006

Copyright: © 2016 Iqbal U. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

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Book Review

Written by Ahmad Shamsul Abd Aziz, this book aims to inform the public about sexual harassment by referring problems and solutions from a legal perspective. These include the question of the rights of the victim and appropriate punishment imposed on the perpetrator of sexual harassment. Sexual harassment is a precursor to other more serious crimes such as rape. A clear definition of sexual harassment and appropriate to the Malaysian culture from various angles such as legal, economic, psychological and social is indispensable.

In addition, public awareness is necessary because the effect of this error involves not only to an individual, but it also can affect the productivity of the country, especially for events that occur in the workplace. The cases related to this event and cases reported by the mass media will also be discussed in this book. In many countries, sexual harassment is provided for under civil law, especially the law of tort. In Malaysia, the provisions of the law related to it are under the Penal Code, but it’s still not enough as sexual harassment is more towards a criminal offense [1].

Code of Practice for the Prevention and Eradication of Sexual Harassment in the Workplace issued by the Ministry of Human Resources are merely guidelines on the establishment of the formation and implementation of an internal mechanism to address this error and it did not give any impact of legislation, the way it deems best to create the specific provisions of the act about it or at least make additions to the legal provisions of the existing. With these rights will be taken care of during the formation of the effect of the law that is neater and perfect.

Sexual harassment has been around for a long time but only recently it received public attention. Before the end of 1970s, this phenomenon is not only considered an offense it did not even have a special name. People consider this sexual harassment as a personal issue that does not get loosened exaggerated. Sexual harassment can occur in three main environments namely in the workplace, in public and in academic centers. In an era of information explosion, sexual harassment also occurs through another medium, namely the internet. Sexual harassment can happen to anyone regardless of gender, age, religion, race, ethnicity and skin color. The incidence of sexual harassment should be considered by all parties as it performs like a prelude to the more serious sexual offenses such as rape and so on.

The question and the issue of sexual harassment in Malaysia are increasingly evident in the wake of several disclosures and allegations made by some victims. They’ve been sexually harassed now have bravely forward. The action taken by these presents us with the level of public awareness regarding the problems is increasing. Increasing the level of awareness is expected to reduce the number of sexual harassment cases. Various efforts from all parties, including the role of the law are seen as critical to minimize the problem of sexual harassment in Malaysia.

There are three key concepts that are discussed in relation to sexual harassment, namely sexual harassment as a branch of sexual violence, equal rights approach as a solution to the problem of sexual harassment and legal role in raising public awareness. In addition to the treatment of sexual disorders in contravention under the provisions of the law is against the principles of natural justice. The importance of focusing on this error as it has close ties with many of Malaysia’s development objectives, particularly for sexual harassment occurs in the workplace. An organization that is strong and sustainable can generate economic growth. Internal problems within an organization should be given serious attention and requires solutions that effective. Sexual harassment is a form of internal problems and when such problems are not contained, of course it will be widespread and result in an organization that fails to operate productively. The effect that happen to Malaysia will be very badly when many organizations are not productive. For that the role of law that can regulate sexual harassment from happening is very important.

In conclusion, all parties must mobilize efforts so that the provisions of a special law regarding sexual harassment can be realized. The current law is not sufficient and without a specific provision, this crisis will not end. If it was not specific about the act though, at least in addition to the existing provisions needed to be done. If not, it is not impossible if the statistic of sexual harassment victim getting increase every year. To prevent it before getting worse, all parties must act to control and deal with sexual harassment.

References

1. (2007) Kuala Lumpur: PTS Professional Publishing, pp: 208.