Suzanne Lee
MIRI (Oct 28): The courage shown by national diving queen Dato Pandelela Rinong in highlighting and speaking out against sexual harassment has helped shine the light on the issue in the country, said the women’s wing of Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB).
In saluting Pandelela for her bravery, wing chief Suzanne Lee said Pandelela’s actions will lead the way for other victims to break their silence and overcome the social stigma tied to sexual-related crimes.
“We, the PSB Women, stand behind Pandelela Rinong and hope that other victims of sexual harassment who are still suffering in silence will take heart from her actions and know that they have the right to seek help and speak out about their experiences,” Lee said in a statement.
PSB, she added, is calling on society to come together to bring such offenders to justice to protect vulnerable girls and women in the country.
“Pandelela should be applauded for her actions and receive proper support from those in power,” said Lee, who also called on the authorities to acknowledge the seriousness of the issue and to hold offenders responsible for their actions.
In a series of tweets last week, Pandelela revealed that she had once been bullied by a former coach after chiding him for making lewd jokes.
She took to Twitter again Monday night, explaining she shared her experience of sexual harassment involving her former coach to offer support and embolden other victims to speak up.
She said she wanted to encourage such victims to “be brave when I wasn’t”.
“I shared my ‘not so nice’ experience to give awareness to the public, and support for victims out there, who are always in dilemma, whether to speak up or stay silent.
“Most importantly, enablers and their backups shouldn’t be glamourised. Others may forget, but not the victim,” she tweeted.
The tweet came after a news portal reported Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu as purportedly downplaying her revelation and questioning the timing of it, during a press conference earlier on Monday.
Following public backlash, the minister on Tuesday explained that the report had taken his remarks at the press conference “out of context”.
In a subsequent tweet, Ahmad Faizal said he had never questioned Pandelela’s revelation, and that he had told the press conference that he wanted to find out more about what had happened.
In replying to Ahmad Faizal’s tweet, Pandelela backed the minister’s explanation that his remarks had been taken out of context after viewing a video of the press conference.
“It’s okay YB, I understand the whole scenario now after watching this video (of the press conference). The male reporter who questioned you raised some red flag though,” she said in her tweet.
She had also earlier tweeted her appreciation to Ahmad Faizal for his willingness to listen and probe the matter.
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