CITF Takes Disciplinary Action Against Staff Who Messaged 18-Year-Old Without Consent

Disciplinary action against staff who texted 18-year-old girl


It’s sad to say that in this day and age, even with the awareness of the #MeToo movement, that women still encounter sexual harassment. Most recently in Malaysia, there has been a case of an 18-year-old girl who received unsolicited text messages from a staff at a Covid-19 vaccination centre in Kuala Lumpur. Yesterday, the Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF) confirmed that disciplinary action has been taken against the man by his agency.


18-year-old receives text messages from staff at vaccination centre



Image credit: @Idwishh

On 13th July 2021, netizen @Idwishh took to Twitter to report a staff named Nazren whom he said texted his 18-year-old sister. The staff was reportedly on duty at the Kuala Lumpur World Trade Centre Vaccination Centre, and was seen wearing a military uniform.

@Idwishh tagged the health ministry and the CITF on his tweet explaining that the staff had taken his sister’s phone number without consent and sent messages to her. He also tagged Khairy Jamaluddin, the coordinating minister for the national immunisation programme, on the tweet and requested disciplinary action to be taken against the staff.

Besides the above, @Idwishh also expressed concern that the staff’s behaviour is unprofessional and he violates privacy concerns by taking his sister’s phone number without consent.

“Pls RT. Authorities should know about this and punish violations of privacy. Women should not have to face these kind[s] of unwanted advances”, he wrote on Twitter.


CITF responds to the complaint against staff at vaccination centre



Image credit: @JKJAVMY

On the same day, the CITF responded to @Idwishh’s tweet saying that they are investigating the issue and appropriate action will be taken accordingly. @Idwishh’s tweet has since gone viral on social media gathering more than 11,000 retweets and 8,000 likes from Malaysians.

Yesterday, 14th July 2021, the CITF replied to the tweet confirming that disciplinary action has been taken against the staff by his agency, which treats cases of harassment seriously.


CITF takes disciplinary action against staff for messaging 18-year-old


It is good to see CITF acting promptly on this issue of abuse of information, and has taken necessary actions against the staff who acted unprofessionally. We hope all Malaysians will continue to speak up against harassment and report it to the authorities at all times. It’s important that we ensure our environment is safe for everyone, offline and online.

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Cover image adapted from: @Idwishh and @Idwishh

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