Everyone has his eye on the bald-headed 56-year-old convicted serial rapist Selva Kumar Subbiah who is making a return to Malaysia.

The man will be under police supervision, but it is time that our society pays more attention to behaviour that have gone off a tangent, especially when it involves the chief executive officer (CEO) of a company.

Just about a week ago, I learnt about a woman staffer who dropped unconscious in the midst of a drinking session at a pub at 2 o’clock in the morning. All of a sudden, she collapsed!

What was supposed to be a Chinese New Year dinner get-together after a long day of work was followed by a prolonged drinking session that went right into the wee hours of the morning in the golden triangle of Kuala Lumpur. It was all done in the name of office camaraderie.

Strangely, although the dinner is often called by the CEO who claims to have a penchant for “bold fashion and great food”, staff members end up paying their share for the food.

Whether it is in Pandamaran where one is supposed to get cheap seafood, or at an expensive restaurant in Petaling Jaya, staffers fork out the money to pay the bills.

Each time, there is a reason - even if it is for the CEO to announce who would be replacing him, after he left the position last year - a dinner was called.

As I learnt, it was a mere excuse for this CEO to create a reason for his own entertainment at the expense of his staff’s family, time, energy and hard-earned money.

Molestation and rape

Although the drinking session was supposed to be amongst office colleagues, no one knows exactly what could have happened when the woman worker became unconscious during the drinking session.

Under such circumstances, the woman has the right to lodge a police report, but it is unlikely that she would do so, because she had chosen to be in the company of office colleagues, and from my investigation, one is in fact, a big time alcoholic.

After all, the dinner and drinking session was called by the boss! So, why lodge a police report? There was no physical molestation involved.

But, what if the woman worker was in fact consuming more alcohol than she could take, or even her drink could have been spiked? Would she be an easy victim?

She may not be a victim where her colleagues were concerned, but what if, along the way that she returned home, her car was blocked and she fell victim to other men? Would she - and even her Good Samaritan - fall right into trouble at 2 or 3 o’clock in the morning?

Who would be responsible?

Although they may not admit it, women staffers will constantly feel the pressure of having to oblige in joining the dinner and drinking sessions.

In some multinational companies, the guidelines are clear that if a dinner is called by a company senior, it has to be a proper dinner which ends by a certain time.

This is taking into consideration that staff do have a family to return to and CEOs do not apply subtle pressure on their staff to join the drinking sessions.

In this case which happened last week, it was at the whims and fancies of people who call the shots. The drinking session went on into the wee hours of the morning.

My question is: If any untoward incident happened to the girl, would the CEO be bold enough to accept responsibility?

I doubt it.

Would the office staff who were in the drinking session together be willing to take responsibility?

I doubt that, too!

And would the company take responsibility for the woman, who could have become a victim herself?

The answer is, No!

So, when people are so engrossed with one serial rapist, my question is why do we put ourselves into vulnerable situations?

There are already enough lessons to be learnt. It is under the influence of alcohol that major accidents can happen on the highway, and although we may gripe at the police, they are just doing their job to reduce the risks of drink-driving.

Therefore, my dear Malaysians, please wake up!

We have to say, “No, thank you!” to the bosses who ask us all out for another dinner occasion and drinking session together. Tell them, it is after office hours, we have a family to return to.

If it is just an announcement, it can be done with high class elegance in the office, with a glass of wine or two as it typically done even in university chancelleries, so why should it be done late into the night?

STEPHEN NG is an ordinary citizen with an avid interest in following political developments in the country since 2008.