PETALING JAYA: Besides criminalising stalking, the Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO) has also called for a restraining order against stalkers to be introduced and for anti-stalking laws to cover cyberstalking.

       WAO senior advocacy officer Rusni Tajari said that from the non-governmental organisation’s experience of working with stalking survivors for many years, there was currently very limited recourse to justice and protection.

       “Failure to amend the law to make stalking a crime will continue to leave survivors without adequate protection and would show that the safety, security and sanity of the public is not taken seriously enough.

       “Stalking could escalate to physical harm and murder, which could be entirely prevented if it were criminalised.

       “The most important thing is for the government to urgently make stalking a crime and secondly, to introduce a restraining order against stalkers in the Criminal Procedure Code.

       “We also hope severe punishment will be meted out to stalkers because the act of stalking can cause survivors and victims to suffer for life.

       “There has to be accountability and punishment, which means a fine or a jail term,” said Rusni.

       She added that there was also need for an improved and widely accessible rehabilitative therapy and psychiatric assessment services for rehabilitation to be meaningful.

       Previously, the WAO had submitted a memorandum signed by 52 groups and a petition supported by more than 8,500 people urging the government to amend the law to criminalise stalking.

       Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law) Datuk Mas Ermieyati Samsudin said a policy paper together with amendments of the law were expected to be tabled to the Cabinet in December and the amendments would be tabled in Parliament after obtaining approval from the Cabinet.

       This was following a meeting to discuss the latest development on an anti-stalking law in Parliament on Nov 2.

       Mas Ermieyati said the meeting was attended by the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry, the Attorney General’s Chambers, the police, the Malaysian Bar Council, WAO and experts, among others.

       Rusni said many countries had specific legal provisions on stalking such as the Philippines, Japan, Australia, Afghanistan, India, Singapore, Mongolia, New Zealand, South Africa, Germany, Czech Republic and South Korea.

       “In Japan, their Anti-Stalking Act (amended in 2013) also includes cyberstalking,” she explained.

       “This is very comprehensive since it includes both offline and online stalking and it is definitely something that must be emulated here as incidences of online violence and stalking have increased.”

       She pointed out that survivors had reported fake social media accounts created in their names just to slander them and ruin their reputation, as well as stalkers using social media to harass them and their families.

       Such behaviour often goes unreported and even if these accounts are reported and blocked, new ones are created, she noted.

       In December last year, research conducted by WAO found that a third of Malaysians had experienced acts associated with stalking.

       The survey titled “Understanding Malaysians’ Experiences of Stalking” involving 1,008 Malaysians, reported that one-third had experienced stalking that elicited fear; 17% had experienced stalking resulting in harm and 12% were stalked and threatened with harm.