KUALA LUMPUR: Azalina Othman Said (BN-Pengerang) is against a clause in the Sexual Harassment Bill 2021 which says the secretary-general of the women, family and community development ministry will be appointed the anti-sexual harassment administrator.
The former law minister said the appointment would effectively make a single person the “moral police” when it came to sexual harassment.
“I have never heard of other countries having this position of administrator (against sexual harassment). Why should the ministry’s secretary-general become the moral police for sexual harassment? It’s illogical,” she said in the Dewan Rakyat.
Azalina drew a comparison between the administrator position in the bill and the coordinating council for the protection of children under the Child Act 2001.
Based on the Act, the council consists of representatives from the relevant ministries, the Attorney-General’s Chambers, police, the prisons department, the social welfare department, child experts and representatives from Sabah and Sarawak.
The former Dewan Rakyat deputy speaker said it would be better for sexual harassment matters to be referred to a committee rather than a single individual.
Azalina requested that this clause be amended, while supporting the bill as a whole.-FMT