Bread & Kaya: Cyberbullying, stalking and sexual harassment<\/strong> – Current laws narrowly and vaguely defines harassment In Mohd Ridzwan bin Abdul Razak v Asmah Binti HJ. Mohd Nor (Kuala Lumpur Civil Suit No. 23NCVC-102-12\/2011), the Defendant alleged that the Plaintiff had sexually harassed her at their workplace.<\/p>\n The Defendant alleged that numerous vulgar and harassing words were uttered to her and they included the following:<\/p>\n – kalau nak cari jodoh cari yang beriman, solat, you kena solat istikarah .. . bila you solat istikarah, you akan mimpi you berjimak dengan orang tu! (If you’re looking for a partner, look for someone pious. You will need to pray. When you pray, you will dream of having sex with that person!) The Defendant filed a complaint against the Plaintiff to the company and a committee of inquiry was set up to investigate the complaint.<\/p>\n The committee found that there was insufficient evidence to warrant disciplinary action to be taken against the Plaintiff, but a strong administrative reprimand was given.<\/p>\n Aggrieved, the Plaintiff sued the Defendant for defamation and the Defendant counterclaimed for tort of sexual harassment.<\/p>\n The High Court dismissed the Plaintiff\u2019s claim and allowed the Defendant\u2019s counterclaim. She was awarded with RM100,000 in general damages and RM20,000 in aggravated and exemplary damages.<\/p>\n The Plaintiff appealed against the judgment to the Court of Appeal (Court of Appeal Civil Appeal No. W-02(NCVC)(W)-2524-10-2012<\/a>).<\/p>\n The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal and held that what the Plaintiff did amounts to the tort of intentionally causing nervous shock.<\/p>\n The Court of Appeal however fell short of declaring that there is tort of harassment in Malaysia.<\/p>\n Dissatisfied again, the Plaintiff filed an appeal with the Federal Court. Unfortunately for the Plaintiff again, the Federal Court (Federal Court Civil Appeal No 01(f)-13-06\/2013 (W)<\/a>) dismissed the appeal.<\/p>\n The Federal Court added:<\/p>\n [39] After mulling over the matter, we arrived at a decision to undertake some judicial activism exercise and decide that it is timely to import the tort of harassment into our legal and judicial system, with sexual harassment being part of it.
\nBy Foong Cheng Leong | Jun 28, 2016<\/p>\n
\n– It is high time Malaysia legislates against it<\/p>\n
\n– you ni asyik sakit kepala saja, you ni kena kahwin tau … you nak laki orang tak? (You\u2019re always having a headache. You need to get married, you want someone\u2019s husband?)
\n– you nak jadi wife I tak? I banyak duit tau. (You want to be my wife? I have a lot of money).<\/p>\n
\n<\/em>
\nThe introduction of the tort of harassment is a significant improvement to our laws. Victims of harassment and cyberbullying now have an easier avenue to obtain redress from our Courts. <\/p>\n