Let’s take a moment to celebrate

THE passing of the Anti-Sexual Harassment Bill by the Dewan Rakyat on Wednesday was a milestone in what has been more than a two-decade-long push by women’s rights groups for a law that protects victims of harassment and gives them a channel to report violations they’ve experienced.

It’s been a long time coming. The Joint Action Group for Gender Equality’s (JAG) lobby for a sexual harassment law began with a petition initiated by women’s groups and workers’ associations somewhere around 2000. The petition garnered about 12,800 signatures and endorsements from 64 organisations.

The women’s groups must certainly be acknowledged for their persistence in pushing for this law, which has now finally been passed.

However, their work isn’t over.

For one thing, the Bill is imperfect and has gaps, they say.

Among other things, it doesn’t address organisational responsibility – the duty organisations have to put in place initiatives to prevent harassment from happening or to take action when it does happen. It isn’t enough to just put a poster up, although it may help.

A clear example would be what happened in Parliament when the Bill was being debated: An MP uttered obscenities and vulgarities directed at women lawmakers. It certainly isn’t the first time women MPs have been verbally assaulted in Parliament.

What actions should or could have been taken to call out such inappropriate behaviour and to make the Dewan a safe place free of harassment?

There are other gaps too, such as providing protection for victims who report harassment. We all know that many victims of harassment, just like victims of domestic and sexual violence, do not come forward because they feel afraid and unsupported.

How are we going to make them feel safe enough to report their harassers?

So, while we celebrate the passing of the law, these gaps need to be addressed. Also there needs to be a mechanism that ensures its enforcement is carried out properly. This has to involve multiple agencies, not just the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry but also the Education Ministry, Human Resources Ministry and others.

Perhaps women’s groups, that have been involved in the drafting of the Bill from the very start, can be roped in for this.

It is also important to note that although the Bill has been passed, we can’t access it yet.

Before the law can be enforced, it has to pass through the senate and be gazetted – it’s uncertain how long this process will take. Hopefully, not too long.

A tribunal will have to be set up and its members trained, its processes worked out before victims can actually benefit from the law.

But judging by the debates on the Bill, most of our MPs seem to see the importance of this law and, hopefully, this is indicative of their commitment to seeing it being enforced properly – maybe a good way to start would be setting a good example in Parliament among our lawmakers.

And we all can normalise calling out sexual harassment in our spaces. All in all, it is a significant step in the right (or human rights) direction and for that, we can all take a moment to celebrate.