Maria Chin Abdullah called on Malaysians to face up to the ‘Call-gate’ incident experienced by PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar by calling it out for what it is - a crime of sexual harassment.

The Petaling Jaya MP said this was because the perpetrator had intended to harass Nurul Izzah and render the topic of her discussion unimportant.

The incident, she added, also underscored the need for the Gender Equality Act to be implemented to defend women's rights in the country.

Maria was referring to an incident last Friday, in which a caller to a live radio programme featuring Nurul Izzah had publicly chastised the latter for her dressing.

The caller, only identifying himself as "Azrul", told her that people were able to see parts of her body "they’re not supposed to see."

"We can see your underwear, can see your breasts,” the caller added.

In a video of the incident which later went viral, Nurul Izzah is clearly seen to have been taken aback.

As Maria pointed out, this is a clear case of sexual harassment.

"The comments made on a live talk show against Nurul Izzah is sexual harassment. We have to begin to name the crime and not call it anything else.

“It was done intentionally and deliberately to harass and to make Nurul Izzah’s topic (on the show) irrelevant. He did not ask one morsel of a question on the related topic.

"Many a time, a woman's dressing is not only commented in a derogatory manner, but she is always made to be the offender instead because of her nonconforming dressing and/or behaviour," she said in a statement today.

Read more: Nurul Izzah: 'Call-gate' harassment in no way acceptable

Maria added that this form of minimising women's worth and contribution was an outrage to what the country was able to achieve in the recent polls, in which Malaysians voted for a change in government.

She said: "Malaysians voted for change and we will work towards ending discrimination and patriarchal attitudes. It's time to stop, name the crime and take actions against offenders."

"It is time for a Gender Equality Act to be put into place so that offenders do not get away with light to serious acts of violation that undermine women's human rights."

Maria further took the show's host to task for appearing to thank the caller for his teguran (advice), as this could be construed as acceptance that the act was "okay."

She was sorry, she added, that the act was not viewed instead as an insult to the station for having its airtime used to sexually harass one of their invited guests.

Take responsibility

Fellow Pakatan Harapan lawmaker Hannah Yeoh, meanwhile, called on the programme's organisers to take responsibility and apologise over the incident.

"Sometimes, the organiser has to take the blame. We do a lot of these engagements with politicians and others while putting them on the spot, then when we lose control, we embarrass our guests,” she was quoted saying by The Malay Mail.

The Segambut MP opined that organisers of such ‘live’ events should reconsider on the-spot-engagements for guests, reportedly saying, “freedom of speech must be accompanied by decency."

She had also sent a tweet in support of Nurul Izzah after ‘Call-gate’, stating: "Hang in there... Bullies come in so many shapes, including 'holier than thou' form. Organiser should have intervened."

The radio programme's host, Faizal Ismail, or FBI, later clarified that he had not been able to hear the caller's remarks clearly, and only realised what was said when listening to the audio recording of the show.

He said he apologised to Nurul immediately thereafter.

Also taking to Twitter, the All Women's Action Society said "What happened to Nurul Izzah is a reminder that women public figures in Malaysia are held to unreasonable standards.

“They face much more scrutiny than their male counterparts."

They also dismissed the claim by several netizens that the caller must have been suffering from mental illness, stating sexist and misogynistic behaviour "should not be equated to having mental illness."