A petition was launched today by three DAP members of Parliament to protest against an incident of sexual harassment in Parliament last week.

"We hope that the public will support our signature campaign here today to put a stop to sexual harassment," said Teresa Kok, DAP MP for Seputeh, at a press conference. She was accompanied by her colleagues, MP for Batu Gajah Fong Poh Kuan and MP for Bukit Mertajam Chong Eng.

Supporters carried banners proclaiming "No sexual harassment in Parliament", "Rakyat Seputeh minta MP 'hormat diri'" and "Bung Moktar, Thong Fah Chong and Mahadzir Khir should apologise", as Kok, with a loud-hailer, addressed passersby and patrons at a coffee shop in Taman Desa, Kuala Lumpur, this afternoon.

"The statements that were made by Bung Moktar (MP for Kinabatangan) and Thong (MP for Ipoh Timor) are sexist remarks and are not something that is common in Parliament," said Kok.

She said that there had been a cover-up of this issue in Parliament, however the two victims of verbal harassment, Chong Eng and Fong, have received letters and support from women members in Parliament.

On Feb 21, during a parliamentary session, Bung Moktar Radin and Thong had used "boleh masuk sikit" and "beri masuk sikitlah" instead of the usual "minta laluan" or "minta jalan" or "minta penjelasan" when they asked for permission to interrupt the two female DAP MPs.

Chong Eng had responded by suggesting that the Code of Practice on the Prevention and Eradication of Sexual Harassment in the Workplace should be enforced not only at all places of work, but also at the Dewan Rakyat and Dewan Negara.

"Parliament can be considered as a 'work place' for MPs and thus the code should apply if they are MPs who could not restrain themselves from sexually harassing others in Parliament," said Chong Eng.

The sexual harassment code was initiated to provide guidelines to employers on the establishment of in-house mechanisms to prevent and eradicate sexual harassment in the workplace.

In the code, sexual harassment is defined as "any unwanted conduct of a sexual nature having the effect of verbal, non-verbal, visual, psychological or physical harassment".

Fong said that the issue was not just about Chong Eng and herself, but as to whether women were being given equal respect to men in Malaysia, more so in Parliament.

"Why is it that women's rights are not being represented in Parliament? So far, there has been no response to the incident from MPs within Barisan Nasional," she said.

According to Chong Eng, the signature campaign would go on until March 8, which is International Women's Day, and signature forms would be made available to the public at all DAP centres in the Federal Territory.

Chong Eng added that the recently formed parliamentary Women's Caucus would convene on March 8 to facilitate discussions into women's issues and to continue the fight against sexual harassment, both within and outside of Parliament.

Meanwhile, Thong was taken to task for denying that he had uttered the controversial words in Parliament.

Thong had yesterday asked Dewan Rakyat Speaker Mohamed Zahir Ismail to rescind the sexist words attributed to him from the Hansard since he did not make them.

"If Thong had never uttered the words, why did he defend himself when questioned by the press and gave justification for using those words? He should have given an outright denial then," said Chong Eng.

"On one hand, Thong is saying the said words are not sexually offensive and that he has not uttered such words but on the other hand, he wanted the said words removed from the Hansard," she added.

"He said the words 'beri masuk sikitlah' are not sexually-offensive. How would he feel if such words are directed at his wife, daughter and his seven sisters?"

[#1]Sexual harassment code should apply to MPs too[/#] (Feb 28)