KUALA LUMPUR: Throughout 2017, 22 sexual harassment cases were recorded at Prasarana Malaysia Bhd's chain of public transport services.
From that number, 21 men were arrested by auxiliary police.
Providing the figures today, Prasarana gave its assurance that each report lodged with regard to sexual harassment within its public transport network are investigated and not taken lightly.
The company said that in the same period, its security team had also picked up 13 men over suspicion of harassing commuters onboard its public transport.
Prasarana’s head of group communications and strategic marketing, Lim Jin Aun, said given that the public transport services managed by their subsidiaries carry more than one million commuters daily, the organisation is bound to face unwelcome incidents.
The Prasarana operations and security team members, however, were committed to assist their customers should they encounter any incidents. In most cases, perpetrators were caught within several days after the incidents were reported.
Commenting on the recent events on Thursday, Lim said four sexual harassment cases took place within the Rapid KL urban rail network.
“The suspect involved in three of the cases was arrested not long after the victims approached the auxiliary police at the stations.
“In the fourth case, the auxiliary police gave chase to the man upon being informed by the person who was harassed but lost the suspect during the chase,” he said.
He said the management had met with the victim and gave their assurance that the incident would be thoroughly investigated.
Lim said the auxiliary police had identified the perpetrator after reviewing the CCTV recordings, which was also shared with the police. Prasarana’s auxiliary police, together with the police are working closely to arrest the victim.
“We wish to assure our commuters that our auxiliary police maintain omnipresence, in uniform as well as in plain clothes, within our public transport network.
“Again, we wish to request commuters who have been harassed to approach our auxiliary police for assistance as soon as possible, and work closely with us to apprehend the suspect.
“While sharing the incident in the social media would generate awareness among members of the public, we do not want the suspect to give us the slip upon knowing the publicity generated,” Lim added.