AWAM PROTECTING SEXUAL OFFENDER?

ACCUSED... A women's rights NGO has been accused of defending an alleged sexual offender within its own ranks.

By : ANISAH SHUKRY

PETALING JAYA: An established feminist organisation set up to protect women and women’s rights has ironically been accused of defending an alleged sexual offender within its own ranks.

The All Women’s Action Society (Awam) had, in April, deleted all allegations on its Facebook page of having elected a 'sexual offender' to an office-bearer within the organisation.

The organisation also sought to silence its accusers by blocking those who had posted these allegations on its wall, including the victim herself.

In defending its move, Awam wrote: “We are compelled to categorically state that [a domestic inquiry on the incident] did not find the accused to have committed sexual misconduct or sexual harassment or molestation as alluded to in various Facebook comments.”

However, the results of the inquiry suggests otherwise.

In a letter to the victim on the outcome of the 2010 inquiry, sighted by FMT, then-Awam president Haslinah Yacob wrote:

“We refer to the complainant dated April 24, 2010, alleging that [the perpetrator] has ‘grabbed the breast of [the complainant] on April 8, 2009, during dinner between the hours of 8pm-9pm, at the Fish Shop in Bangsar Village.”

“We write to inform that after due inquiry, we conclude that the above action did take place and that the [perpetrator] has misconducted herself,” wrote Haslinah in the letter, dated July 1, 2010.

Defining sexual harassment

Awam defines sexual harassment on its website as “receiving any unwanted conduct of sexual nature including sexual comments, fondling, lewd gestures, jokes, e-mails, SMSes, pornographic pictures, coercion and more.”

On this basis, the fact that it acknowledged in the outcome of the inquiry that the perpetrator had grabbed the complainant’s breast, yet later denied on its wall that any sexual misconduct had taken place, suggests a deliberate cover-up.

The complainant, who spoke to FMT on condition of anonymity, said that the members of the inquiry had earlier on glossed over the incident by implying it was a case of two “intimate” friends “playing” and that it had gone too far.

“We were definitely not playing around – we were just two friends having dinner, and she reached over to me and grabbed my breast all of a sudden,” the victim told FMT during a recent interview.

“I felt so shocked, I couldn’t believe what had happened. Only the stunned expressions of nearby diners proved that she had actually done that.”

“I started feeling sick as I was driving home and vomited once I got home. For days I felt the pressure of her hand on my breast and felt dirty and degraded,” she recalled, choking with tears.

She said she had delayed lodging a complaint to Awam for a year in favour of dealing with the issue on her own, as the perpetrator was a friend of 16 years and a leading feminist in the Malaysian movement.

However, when the perpetrator allegedly failed to seek treatment as requested by the complainant, the latter turned to Awam to take action against the perpetrator as well as to establish whether or not the “molestation” actually took place.

Molester turned office bearer?

In a letter to the victim disclosing the inquiry results, Haslinah had acknowledged that the breast-grabbing incident had taken place and due disciplinary action would be taken against the perpetrator.

Although the details of the disciplinary action were not disclosed and the victim had reservations over how the probe was conducted, she said she had no choice but to accept the outcome’s inquiry and move on.

But, two years later, the angst and pain came flooding back when she learned that the very same perpetrator had been promoted to a key position on Awam’s board in March 2012.

Outraged, she and several other concerned friends posted their objections on the organisation’s wall – only to have their posts deleted and their accounts blocked from commenting.

“Under the circumstances, Awam can no longer allow these allegations to be published on our Facebook Page as they expose Awam to legal action as host of this public space,” Awam wrote on its Facebook page.

“All past and future posts related to this matter will for this reason be deleted.”

Hurt and confused, the victim e-mailed Awam president Ho Yock Lin for an explanation on the promotion, but was told that the perpetrator’s case had already been addressed and the matter closed in 2010.

She was also informed that the perpetrator had been elected by Awam’s members in accordance with the organisation’s constitution, and that prior to the election, a notice of contesting members and the positions contested was duly informed to all Awam members.

“By putting into office a person who sexually assaulted a woman, Awam has gone against its core values as a ‘feminist’ organisation and one which campaigns against violence towards women,” the victim said.

Awam said it would respond after holding an internal meeting on this matter.