Malaysia is one of Asia's biggest employers of foreign labour. But recently, cases of deaths, abuse and forced labour have come to light. What is going on? Who is protecting these migrant workers?
ONLY 1,257 of 500,000 employers in the country — or 0.25 per cent —
seem serious about tackling sexual harassment in the workplace.
<p>These are the only ones who have adopted the Human Resources Ministry’s
Code of Practice for the Prevention and Eradication of Sexual Harassment in
the Workplace.</p>
<p>To women activist groups like All Women’s Action Society (Awam), the dismal
figure shows employers don’t view sexual harassment as a serious issue.</p>
<p>Awam executive director Honey Tan said most employers did not realise the effects
of the problem on their staff turnover, employee productivity and, ultimately,
profit.<br>
"When workers are harassed, they are emotionally disturbed and won’t
be paying attention to work," she said.</p>
<p>This translates into low productivity and employees would seek a transfer or
leave the job.</p>
<p>"Sometimes, they won’t tell the employer because they don’t
feel it is safe to complain."</p>
<p>But the Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) thinks it is unhelpful to suggest
employers are not viewing sexual harassment as a serious issue, even if they
don’t adopt the code.</p>
<p>"Employers view it as misconduct and they take the necessary action if
there is sexual harassment in the workplace," said MEF executive director
Shamsudin Bardan.</p>
<p>"If we have evidence and it is raised as a serious issue, then the harasser
may lose his job.</p>
<p>"Employers take a great risk because the dismissed employee may challenge
the dismissal.</p>
<p>"And when they do and the case goes to the Industrial Court, which may
be a year or two later, the complainant may not come forward to testify for
various reasons."</p>
<p>To avoid this problem, MEF has suggested the ministry not refer such dismissals
to the Industrial Court.</p>
<p>"If they are serious about eradicating sexual harassment, the harasser’s
complaint should not be entertained."</p>
<p>Otherwise, employers will think twice about getting rid of the harasser.</p>
<p>"In most cases, there’s little evidence to support the allegation
as it often occurs in one-on-one situations," Shamsudin said.</p>
<p>However, Tan said it was important that companies adopt the code of practice
because there was no law that dealt with the issue.</p>
<p>"It gives employers guidelines on how to handle harassment cases sensitively
because of the personal and sexual nature."</p>
<p>Admittedly, even without the code, there are other ways a victim can seek redress.</p>
<p>The victim can complain to the Labour Department, which can direct the employer
to investigate.</p>
<p>But, according to the Joint Action Group against Violence against Women, "the
department is not empowered to compel the employer to take any action".</p>
<p>Statistics show that not many victims reported to the department.</p>
<p>There were only 23 cases last year, while until June this year, there were
six.</p>
<p>Women’s groups like Awam and Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO) said
the figures were grossly under-reported as many victims were afraid.</p>
<p>"Many feel their complaints will not be dealt with discreetly and professionally,"
said Tan.</p>
<p>"Where the harasser is a senior person, there is always the fear that
no one will believe them."</p>
<p>In most of the cases reported to the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC),
the victims were blamed and further victimised through demotions, transfers
or pressured to resign.</p>
<p>"If the perpetrator is someone in authority, most employers would try
to cover it up as they would rather lose a worker than someone in a management
position," said MTUC Women’s Committee head Norlaila Aslah.</p>
<p>The problem with sexual harassment, she said, was that everyone treated it
as a joke.</p>
<p>"It does not help when even our parliamentarians treat it lightly. What
more the public? It is shocking that even some female co-workers treat it as
a joke.</p>
<p>"Just because some women ‘tolerate’ the harassment, they expect
others to do the same. We need to educate everyone to respect the rights of
another person."</p>
<p>Sexual harassment, she added, could apply to both genders.</p>
<p>Some victims are also unaware that the law is on their side.</p>
<p>They can lodge a police report and the case investigated under the Penal Code.</p>
<p>Victims can seek redress under assault (Section 351), outraging of modesty
(Section 354), rape (Section 376), criminal intimidation (Section 503) and using
words or gestures to insult the modesty of a person (Section 509).</p>
<p>"But it is difficult to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you have
been harassed because it usually happens when no one else is around.</p>
<p>"It will be a case of the victim’s word against that of the harasser,"
said Tan.</p>
<p>And if the victim has been unfairly dismissed, he or she can complain to the
Industrial Relations Department.</p>
<p>But the matter will be treated as a case of unfair dismissal, not sexual harassment.</p>
<p>"In reality, the code is voluntary, so no punitive action can be taken
against employers for non-compliance.</p>
<p>"I believe that only when sexual harassment is legislated as a punishable
offence will employers take action."</p>
<p>The Joint Action Group is now pushing for the Sexual Harassment Bill, which
compels employers to prevent sexual harassment and provide victims access to
legal redress, to be tabled in parliament.</p>
<p>Norlaila said MTUC supported the bill because "there needs to be a clear
and proper channel to tackle the grie-vance at source, rather than leave it
to the Penal Code".</p>
<p>"Management should treat sexual harassment as seriously as any other offence
in or outside the workplace. The working environment needs to be amicable and
safe for everyone," said Norlaila.</p>
<p>The Human Resources Ministry is trying to amend the Employment Act 1955 to
incorporate sexual harassment.</p>
<p>"We hope to make it a specific grievance that needs to be addressed by
employers," said minister Datuk Seri Dr Fong Chan Onn.</p>
<p>His office is finalising the details of the amendment and hopes to take it
to parliament in a couple of months.</p>
<p><img src="images/articles/2007/insidepix1sexualharrassment.jpg" width="350" height="739"></p>
<p><i>Source: http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Sunday/National/20070812084753/Article/index_html</i>
Address: Wisma MTUC,10-5, Jalan USJ 9/5T, 47620 Subang Jaya,Selangor | Tel: 03-80242953 | Fax: 03-80243225 | Email: sgmtuc@gmail.com.com