KUALA LUMPUR, July 20 — The administrator in the Anti-Sexual Harassment Bill will not handle any cases as these will go strictly under a specific tribunal, said Women, Families and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Rina Harun.
Responding to Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said’s (Pengerang-BN) concerns during the debate of the Bill, the minister clarified that the special administrator would only be handle advocacy work and policy matters at a bureaucratic level.
“When we made the Bill, we were not alone, it was checked by the Attorney General’s Chambers, and they had looked into the administrator issue, which is different from the tribunal, as it is purely administrative.
“The administrator will formulate the policy, guideline, advocacy programmes of the sexual harassment campaign,” she told a press conference after Parliament passed the Bill today.
Earlier, Azalina questioned why the Women, Families and Community Development secretary-general will be the sole administrator named in the proposed law.
The former law minister said that the appointment of a single individual to the position could be challenged under administrative laws for illegality, irrationality and unreasonableness in court as it does not happen anywhere else in the world where such laws exist.
The Dewan Rakyat voted the Bill through via a voice vote.
Today, Rina said the passage was important to stop the “normalisation of sexual harassment.”
“This is the first step for Malaysia to provide protection (for victims) against sexual harassment,” she said in her winding-up speech.
