PETALING JAYA: National diving champion Pandelela Rinong has spoken up against rape jokes and detailed her own experience of being subjected to lewd jokes by her former coach in a Twitter thread today.
Her tweets come in the wake of public uproar over a rape joke made by a local actor on a television programme.
In her Twitter thread, Pandelela shared how her former coach had made lewd jokes to her and fellow athletes for years.
“The saddest part was that (the coach) was doing that continuously for seven years, and we (athletes) were unable to act since he was backed by our head coach.”
Pandelela said the country needed leaders to tackle harassment issues and not turn a blind eye to the problem.
She also urged others who have been harassed to speak up.
Actor Fauzi Nawawi recently came under fire from social media users and women’s activists after he joked about a rape scene in a movie he acted in on a talkshow. The actor has since apologised for the comments.-FMT