Nancy gestures during the press conference. — Photo by Roystein Emmor
KUCHING (Sept 1): The proposal to amend the Anti-Sexual Harassment Act 2022 is deemed necessary to enhance the effectiveness in preventing all incidents of sexual harassment at the workplace.
Women, Family and Community Development Dato Sri Nancy Shukri has proposed that the Anti-Sexual Harassment Act 2022 be amended.
In highlighting the needs for the laws on sexual harassment to be extended to include organisational responsibility, she said the current laws are primarily focused on individuals, whereas there are gaps when it comes to holding organisations accountable for the misconducts.
“We need to amend the existing legislation to ensure that organisations can be held liable if they fail to address the sexual harassment cases,” she told the press after officiating at the ‘Jiwa Komuniti Madani’ programme for Santubong parliamentary at Mydin Petra Jaya, here today.
The Santubong MP opined that it is important to implement measures that require organisations to take proactive steps in addressing sexual harassment, rather than placing the burden solely on victims to report incidents.
“As a minister, I will push for a study to be conducted on that matter so that necessary amendments can be made to the current law as we want everyone who feels victimised to be protected by the law,” she said.
Nancy shared this concern following a recent investigation into a senior bank officer in Perak who was accused of sexually harassing a female colleague since 2021, with the bank denying the allegations.
Also present at the programme’s launching was Sarawak Information Department director Helmy Hamid.