M'sian Man Shares How He Was Sexually Harassed In Support Of MRT's Women-Only Coaches
"If you get harassed, just scream. Why stay silent?" he heard many men complain.
A Malaysian man has taken to social media to share his experience of being sexually harassed, aiming to raise awareness on the importance of women-only spaces on public transportation
Facebook user Muhammad Harris Nasril said he decided to share his story after seeing too many insensitive comments from men mocking the women-only coaches on the Putrajaya MRT line.
"If you get harassed, just scream. Why stay silent?" he quoted many men saying when the initiative was first launched to prevent sexual harassment.
However, Harris said he fully supports the women-only coaches, believing that many women have been easily groped or harassed on the MRT, especially when the trains are packed.
"If even I, a man, froze up when I was harassed, how much more difficult must it be for a woman to speak out against a male harasser?" he pondered.
Sharing his experience, Harris said he used to take sexual harassment lightly too, until it happened to him about seven years ago
Then 36 years old, Harris was working in Brunei and often used private hire cars, known as prebet sapu in Malay, because he did not own a vehicle.
"In Brunei, there are many prebet sapu because public transportation is infrequent and the last bus ends early, around 9pm. These private drivers charge fares as low as RM1 to RM5 due to the subsidised petrol prices in the country," he explained.
One night, he got into the car of an uncle in his 50s, who struck up a friendly conversation during the ride home.
"Oh, are you Malaysian?" the uncle asked.
"Yes, I am. I just started working here," Harris replied.
"How long have you been working here?"
"I'm new here. About four months."
Harris said when he arrived at his rented home, the uncle asked him to save his phone number in case he ever needed another private hire, and Harris did.
Harris said he called the uncle many times to drive him to places without incident and did not expect that it would turn into a nightmare
One evening, as the uncle was driving him home again, he invited Harris to his house.
"Tomorrow is a holiday. Come to my house. We can sing karaoke," the uncle suggested.
"My voice isn't good, uncle."
"It's okay. We can watch movies together. I have many DVDs."
At that point, Harris said he felt the uncle's hand touching his thigh.
"He moved his hand from the top of my knee to the base of my thigh. I was stunned. I wanted to shout at him, but I couldn't make a sound. It was fear mixed with anger," Harris recounted.
As soon as the car arrived home, Harris said he jumped out and never looked back at the "shameless pervert"
"Even though he was old, he was still so lewd and smart to take advantage of my trust," Harris wrote.
He ended his Facebook post commending MRT for taking steps to combat sexual harassment, acknowledging how easily it could happen on mixed coaches and how helpless victims could feel if they were randomly groped.
Image via Muhamad Harris Nasril (Facebook)
If you or someone you know may be at risk or has experienced sexual abuse or assault, please reach out to these Malaysian organisations:
1. WOMEN'S AID ORGANISATION (WAO)
Operating hours: 24-hour
Contact: +603-30008858
SMS/WhatsApp: +6018-9888058
Website | Facebook | Twitter
2. ALL WOMEN'S ACTION SOCIETY (AWAM)
Operating hours: Monday to Friday (9.30am - 5.30pm)
Contact: +603-78770224
WhatsApp/Telegram: +6016-2284221 | +6016-2374221
Email: telenita@awam.org.my
Website | Facebook | Twitter
3. WOMEN'S CENTRE FOR CHANGE PENANG (WCC PENANG)
Operating hours: Monday to Friday (9am - 5pm)
Contact: +604-2280342 | +604-3988340
WhatsApp: +6011-31084001 | +6016-4180342
Email: wcc@wccpenang.org
Website | Facebook | Twitter
4. SARAWAK WOMEN FOR WOMEN SOCIETY (SWWS)
Operating hours: Monday (7pm - 9pm),Tuesday to Thursday (9.30am - 11.30am), Saturday (2pm - 4pm)
Contact: +6082-368853
SMS/WhatsApp: +6016-5822660 | +6013-8044285
Email: sarswws@gmail.com
Website | Facebook | Twitter
5. SABAH WOMEN'S ACTION-RESOURCE GROUP (SAWO)
Operating hours: Monday to Friday (9am - 5pm)
Contact: +6088-280200 | +6011-27908020
Email: sawo.women@yahoo.com
Website | Facebook | Twitter
6. PROTECT AND SAVE THE CHILDREN (PS THE CHILDREN)
Operating hours: Monday to Friday (3pm - 12am)
WhatsApp: +6016-7213065
Email: protect@psthechildren.org.my
Website | Facebook | Twitter
7. INTERNET WATCH FOUNDATION (IWF)
Anonymously and confidentially report child sexual abuse content and non-photographic child sexual abuse images with IWF's Reporting Portal.
Unfortunately, many men are still found sitting in women-only coaches:
Women still often face the risk of sexual harassment in public:
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