by Dr Rahim Said
Let us begin with the presumption of innocence. That is, after all, the civilised thing to do.
But how does one civilly process a headline involving a 37-year-old male government officer, a 23-year-old female intern, and the alleged request to have his pubic hair shaved in the office—at 1.58pm, no less, between what I presume were a morning meeting and afternoon tea?
Malaysia Boleh, they said. But they never told us it meant this.
The case of the civil servant, father of three, alleged pervert — will eventually wind its way through the courts.
But the charge itself, under Section 509 of the Penal Code for outraging modesty, is enough to warrant national conversation — not just about sexual harassment, but about the kind of deeply disturbed individuals who seem to pass quietly through our public sector hiring systems like a bad fart in an air-conditioned boardroom.
According to reports, the government officer allegedly told a female intern — yes, an intern barely past the trauma of final-year university projects — to give his groin a “makeover.”
However, this wasn’t behind some sleazy club, in the dead of night, where at least there’s some measure of sordid consistency. This was allegedly done in a government office, during working hours, by someone paid with your taxes and mine.
Forget sexual misconduct for a moment. What kind of mental gymnastics must a man perform to think this is appropriate behaviour?
If true, this is not just about lust — it’s a sign of derangement, of someone mentally unfit to hold office, let alone wield any kind of power over subordinates.
But let’s not forget: mad people rarely think they’re mad. The dangerous ones often believe it’s everyone else who’s unreasonable.
The world, they feel, simply doesn’t understand their “needs,” their “freedom,” or in this case — their groin.
But before we rush to medicalise this into a neat category of ‘mental illness’ — let’s be clear: a diagnosis does not absolve one of responsibility.
Nor should it automatically convert deviance into sympathy. There are thousands of Malaysians struggling with mental health who do not ask interns to play barber in the pants region.
But here’s the kicker: when brought to court, the accused reportedly stood calmly and pleaded not guilty. Calmly. Because when you live in your fantasy of entitlement, where interns serve coffee, file papers, and service your loins, what’s a charge sheet compared to your delusions?
So, like clockwork, we see the bail request drama unfold: the man is the sole breadwinner, the wife is unemployed, and one child is disabled. Cue the violins.
You’d almost forget this entire mess started with an alleged grotesque abuse of power. Why is it that when men behave badly, their wives and children are paraded like human shields?
At some point, we need to reckon with how predators slip through the cracks in our bureaucracy. Perhaps they aren’t slipping through at all.
Perhaps we’ve just grown used to it. Perhaps we’ve trained ourselves to laugh it off, to murmur “mesti dia sakit gila,” and scroll on.
But think about that intern. Think about how a single afternoon in a government office could scar someone permanently. Think about the system that hired this man, housed him, paid him, promoted him — until one day, he allegedly decided that “a groin makeover” was a reasonable HR request.
Sometimes, the truly deranged are not in the psychiatric ward. They’re in the office next door. Or they walk amongst us.
The views expressed here are entirely those of the writer
WE