Former journalist Joanne Lee, 39, was afraid to take calls, stopped going out during the weekends, and eventually quit her job - to avoid a woman who stalked her for three years.

Recounting the nightmare in a web exclusive for The Straits Times, she said she is glad there will be more support for stalking victims with the new anti-harassment law tabled in Parliament on Monday.

There are no words to express how pleased I am that the Government is finally taking action against stalkers in a new piece of legislation tabled in Parliament on Monday. The proposed "Protection From Harassment Bill 2014" is set to tackle online harassment, cyber-bullying, sexual harassment in the workplace - and stalking.

Three months ago, when Law Minister K. Shanmugam announced that the Government was to look into hiving off harassment from its current cursory inclusion in the Miscellaneous Offences Act into a separate piece of legislation, I wasn't so sure stalking would be taken seriously.

For the last few years, with more people getting comfortable in their cloaks of Internet anonymity, online harassment and cyber-bullying have understandably received much attention. Similarly, women's rights group Aware has been lobbying the Government for a few years now to strengthen laws governing sexual harassment at the workplace.

But stalking? Who represents these silent sufferers in society? The answer is no one. Largely because victims of stalkers have no idea how to deal with their situations so there are few cases that make it to court.

Many a time, victims can't get the help or advice they need from the relevant authorities. And most importantly, victims of prolonged stalking are often so traumatised by their ordeal, they retreat rather than face their tormentors head-on. I know because I was once a victim.

"Honey, remember we got married and had a child?"

About 10 years ago, when I was a news anchor on Channel NewsAsia, I drew the attention of who I then thought was just a confused fan. I thought her confused because she talked nonsense in her letters so I really didn't think much of her back then.

Read the full story here.