PARLIAMENT | The government has been urged to take the lead in efforts to criminalise the act of stalking an individual.

Kasthuri Patto (Pakatan Harapan-Batu Kawan) said the present government should prove its commitment towards furthering the women's agenda and that it could do what the previous BN administration had failed to do.

"The time has come for the Harapan government to do what was not done by the previous administration, which was to criminalise stalking.

"Let's show the critics out there how it’s done for the protection of women, men and the protection of families in terms of criminalising stalking," said Kasthuri in her debate of the royal address this morning.

She noted there is an urgent need to push for the law, citing female murder victims who were also victims of stalking.

De facto law minister Liew Vui Keong last month reportedly indicated that individuals who stalk another person will face legal action and punishment, once the proposed legislation is brought to Parliament for debate and approval this year.

The proposal to criminalise stalking had been discussed during the previous BN administration, which included identifying necessary amendments to the Penal Code and the Domestic Violence Act 1994.

'Women's March, not LGBT march'

In her speech, Kasthuri also defended participants and organisers of the Women's Day March against criticism from MPs in the Dewan Rakyat.

"Don't slander these women who are only demanding their rights, just like yours and mine, to be upheld," she said.

She was addressing Noraini Ahmad (BN-Parit Sulong) who raised the issue of LGBT participation in the rally during her own debate of the royal address yesterday.

Kasthuri also shot down opposition leader Ismail Sabri Yaakob's assertion that there was no objection towards women voicing their rights, and that the protests were targeted at what was described as an "LGBT rally".

"It was not an LGBT rally. It was a women's rally.

"There was participation from others, including the OKU community," she stressed.

The March 8 event on International Women’s Day had, among others, called for an end to child marriage and gender-based violence.

However, this message was overshadowed by the focus on the presence of some participants from the LGBT community.