by Steven Sim, MP for Bukit Mertajam

Everyone was shocked by the disgusting, horrifying and utterly despicable act of raping a 15-year old girl by 38 men in Kelantan.

This case, horrendous as it is, is not the full story. In Malaysia, everyday, 10 women fall victims to rape and more than half of these are young girls below the age of 16. Even this is not the full story! According to women’s groups, only one in 10 cases of rape is reported – forming a nauseous thought that every 15 minutes, somewhere in our country, a woman is being raped.

As I have mentioned many times, violence against women stemmed from a culture which treats women as inferior to men, a situation where there is no gender equality, where women are thought off as only good to stay at home as unpaid caregivers, whose life decisions must be made by or in consultation with men, are deemed easily influenced, easily violated, defenseless and can be bullied or should be “tamed”.

As recent as the Teluk Intan by-election last week, we have seen even Federal Ministers, from the Home Minister to the Youth and Sports Minister making sexist remarks against DAP candidate Dyana Sofya Mohd. Daud, a 27-year old woman politician. Here in Malaysia, we have an encyclopedia worth of sexual innuendos by Ministers, politicians and government senior officers manifesting this uncouth culture of disrespect for women in our society even at the highest level.

This culture must be eradicated, otherwise any laws, even stricter ones will only serve as yet another patriarchal instrument to oppress women. Around the world, we have seen enough ludicrous suggestions to impose modesty laws on women or even keep women from appearing in public places under the pretext of protecting them when it is actually hypocrisy of the highest degree where the victims are blamed instead of the perpetrators.

Government must lead the way towards gender equality

Gender equality must be the main agenda of the goal of the government to achieve a balanced society. This can only be achieved when there is gender mainstreaming in government policy and legislative process.

For example, women groups have long called for gender responsive budgets (GRBs) to be implemented at all levels of government so that public resources can be allocated in a more empowering manner, yet to this day even after many years of so-called pilot programmes, nothing substantial is in sight.

I was part of the GRB pilot project in Penang and I am very well aware of the immense challenge to mainstream gender perspective into our government. Success can only come with strong political will from both the federal and state governments. When government gives equitable weightage to both men and women, of all races and age groups, this essentially will reorientate our society to think differently about gender.

I have raised in the previous parliamentary session that even homemakers, 80% or more whom are women, should be accorded greater respect and recognition. Homemakers, I have pointed out contributed “homemakers tax” about RM 36 billion a year in form of lost income when they quietly perform care work at home. Yet they are treated as almost “nobodies” as far as government policy is concerned.

A system which betrayed our female citizens

This lackadaisical attitude towards women’s rights by the government is then expressed in the lack of commitment to protect women, including to fight gender related crimes such as violence against women. For example, after much pressure from all sides, both the government and Polis Diraja Malaysia (PDRM) agreed in 2010 to establish a register of sexual offenders to bar them from easily going near potential victims after their release. If we want restriction and modesty laws, it should be imposed on the perpetrators not the victims. Four years have passed and the Bill has not seen the light of day in Parliament.

We have also highlighted for umpteenth times the difficulty to report gender crimes, apply for protection for victims, prosecute the perpetrator in court and convict the perpetrator. According to a study by All Women’s Action Society, AWAM, only 1 in 10 reported rape cases are brought to court. And another report by the Women’s Centre for Change, WCC, showed that only 4-6% of these cases are finally convicted after a torturous court proceeding mostly suffered by the victims and their family.

In terms of reporting and applying for protection for the victims, many have urged the police to review it’s work process when it comes to dealing with gender crimes. The unfortunate case of Lai Siew Fong in Bukit Mertajam is a classic example of the gross inadequacy of the current system. Lai, a mother of two, was a repeated victim of domestic violence by her husband and had lodged numerous police reports in the past. Yet no action was taken until on that fateful day when his fit had taken over his wit, the husband set fire on Lai. After battling severe burn wounds for 40 days, Lai finally succumbed to her injuries. Protection came too late for Lai, no, it didn’t come at all.

From a parliamentary reply given by the Minister of Women, Family and Community Development to me last year, in the period of 10 years, from 2002 to 2012, cases of domestic violence increased as much as 27%, and yet from the 9,938 cases reported within 2010 and 2012, only about 8.22% are convicted in court. What is the problem here?

A major reason is the lack of commitment by related agencies towards the issue. Many still see domestic violence as merely “family quarrels”, and the government or the police are not exceptional in this misguided thinking. But once again this stemmed from a culture of not taking women’s health, rights, safety and welfare seriously.

The entrenched culture of inequality even within the government, especially within the government, finally resulted in a system which betrayed female citizens of this country.

From the “harmless” sexist jokes made by senior leaders, to the so-called private matters of “family quarrels” which caused distressed and even death to the victims, to rape and the systemic abuse of the women folks in marginalised communities such as the Penans, government’s continual inaction to reverse the trend of inequality and gender discrimination sends a frightening message: It is OK to bully women. -The Rocket