COMMENT | Sexual harassment in universities: Who cares?

COMMENT | In the last two months, we were confronted with disturbing news of sexual harassment. These ranged from the “rape joke” on 17-year-old Ain Husniza Saiful Nizam, demeaning period spot checks on female students, sexual harassment and assault on Cindy Ong for years during her time as a national swimmer, on Universiti Malaya student 'Soleil Ching' (not her real name) by her associate professor, and recently, reports of sexual harassment of female students at a Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) hostel.

For the victims and their parents, the incidents are traumatic. This harrowing experience is compounded by the feeling of anger and frustration due to the lack of empathy shown by those in authority who fail to take the right and decisive action.

The prevalence of these cases, coupled with the victims' willingness to speak openly, revealed the disturbing extent of sexual harassment cases in this country. All Women’s Action Society (Awam), in their recent survey in April on sexual harassment, recorded...