A Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) or Justice Party Senator wants to protect men from being ‘seduced’ by women that could lead to rape.
His comments unleashed a flood of criticism against him from his own party MP’s.
Mohd Imran Abd Hamid has proposed the enactment of a sexual harassment law. His intentions are for the law to protect men from being seduced into committing crimes such as rape, he says.
Consequentially, a few women MP’s leaders from the Pakatan Harapan government asked him whether victimised babies seduced men too?
The Justice Party’s women’s wing chief however said rape happens to women who are decently dressed too.
The one that needs protection are victims of sexual abuse, and not the abusers and rapists, Wanita PKR chief Haniza Talha told Malaysiakini.
Women, Family, and Community Development Deputy Minister Hannah Yeoh said babies and young children have been victims of a similar crime. They do not know how to seduce men, yet they become part of the statistics.
The senator told the Dewan Negara he is proposing the Sexual Harassment Act to protect men from the actions, words and clothing of women.
This he says can cause men to be seduced to the point they can commit acts such as incest, rape, molestation, (watching) pornography and the like.
“This is important, we (men) need to be protected. The actions, clothing of women can seduce us into breaking the law and causing us to be charged (with a crime).
“I ask that the minister consider this so that the men in this country are safe, and the country is peaceful,” the retired Navy admiral told the Dewan Negara.
The Dewan Negara is upper house of the Parliament of Malaysia, consisting of 70 senators.
Police statistics from 2013 to 2017 showed that men made up 21.1 percent of sexual harassment victims.
The All Women’s Action Society (Awam) complained the authorities do not take sexual harassment seriously, even laughing at complainants and thus allegedly enabling perpetrators.
The senator later issued an apology and retracted the suggestion after coming under fire.
“I apologise to all who were affected by my suggestion that a sexual harassment act is needed to protect men when I was debating the Syarie Legal Profession (Federal Territories) Bill on July 31 at the Dewan Negara.
“Although my intention was sincere, I did not expect it to be perceived as a huge blunder that offended many women and men as well, who found the remark to be insulting.
“As such, I wish to issue an apology and to retract the suggestion that I raised,” he said in a media statement.-/TISG