The government has no immediate plans to legislate a law against sexual harassment though the Human Resource Ministry has began discussions with the Attorney-Generals Chambers and other relevant ministries, HR minister Dr Fong Chan Onn said today.

No final decision has been made but were looking at all possibilities, he said at a press conference after officially launching the code of practice on the prevention and eradication of sexual harassment for British American Tobacco (Malaysia) Bhd in Subang Jaya this morning.

Fong said the code of practice launched March 1999 generated encouraging response from large companies. He added that 241 companies have since set up specific in-house mechanisms to deal with sexual abuses in their workplace.

Some 1,000 other companies have also adopted the code of practice though they do not have a separate mechanism to deal with the problem specifically. The awareness has however helped cut down sexual harassment in the workplace.

According to the Malaysian Social Security Organisation there were 385,000 employers registered with them in 1999.

He said officers were being sent to companies, particularly the smaller ones, to help them adopt the code and put the mechanisms in place to check sexual harassment.

No expertise, resource

Small companies were not reluctant to adopt the code but lack the manpower or resource to put the mechanism in place.

Fong said there was no plan to make it compulsory for all companies to adopt the code.

We want to make it a voluntary compliance because companies in general do not like to be forced into doing something.

We want to appeal to their sense of corporate responsibility and social justice to adopt this (code of practice), he said.

About 50 to 60 sexual harassment cases are reported each year though the minister concedes that the figure could be much higher as many cases were either not reported or were resolved internally.

The purpose of the internal mechanism is to nip the problem in the bud in the initial stages, he said.

Memorandum

Trade unions and women groups have been urging the government to legislate laws to combat sexual harassment at the workplace.

Women's Crisis Centre, Women's Development Collective, All Women's Action Society, Women's Aid Organisation, Sisters In Islam, Malaysian Trades Union Congress (Women's Section), Persatuan Sahabat Wanita Selangor and Women's Candidacy Initiative submitted a joint memorandum on the matter last year.

According to them, only a comprehensive law can prevent sexual harassment from happening in the workplace.

They argued that the law will compel employers to be pro-active in preventing sexual harassment from happening in their companies as well as providing a meaningful redress for the victims.