REPORTS of domestic violence remain high despite the easing of movement controls allowing people to leave their homes, said the Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO).

WAO said it received a total of 879 (493 calls and 386 texts) enquiries on domestic violence in June.

Its research and advocacy officer, Yap Lay Sheng, told The Malaysian Insight despite the lifting of the movement-control order (MCO), the number of domestic violence cases didn’t decrease.

“The numbers are high due to a variety of reasons. Even if the lockdown has been lifted, many are still working from home while social-distancing measures in public have deterred many from going out,” said Yap.

Malaysia saw a spike in the number of domestic violence cases during the MCO, which was enforced on March 18.

The Women, Family and Community Development Ministry’s Talian Kasih hotline recorded a 57% increase (1,893 calls) from women in distress in March.

WAO also reported an increase in domestic violence from March to May during the MCO.

The spike was because the victims were mostly at home with their abusers, it said.

Before the MCO on March 18, WAO recorded 250 enquiries on its hotline and WhatsApp channel in February, but the number spiked to 898 in April and 848 in May.

The women’s rights group said the isolation that came with MCO “made it easier for abusers to exert control physically, emotionally, and socially”.

Yap, however, said the attention and awareness given to highlight domestic violence during the MCO period has created a safer environment for victims to come forward with their stories.

“The increased media attention, government focus and campaigns by civil society groups created a safer environment for survivors to come forward.

“They no longer feel afraid that their voices will be silenced or their cries for help ignored.”

By making domestic violence a mainstream issue, it would also create a safer environment where survivors know their problems would not be trivialised by society, he said.

Survivors of domestic abuse will only step forward and tell their stories if they are confident that they will not suffer a backlash, he said.

“This can be demonstrated by the police and authorities who take their claims seriously, or by those within their communities,” he said.

Even though the country saw a spike in domestic violence cases during MCO, Yap said there is no way to find out whether some of these reports resulted from first-time abusers.

“What we do know is that abuse isn’t something that happens once, it is part of a cycle of emotional, financial and physical torment that perpetrators carry out on the abused,” he said.

“What we may see this year is instead a drop in ‘reported’ domestic violence cases with the police because, during the MCO, there was no free movement permitted,” Yap said.

The true scale of domestic violence cases in society can only be gauged with the government committing funds to carry out a survey, he said.

“Many cases have gone unreported, or survivors opted instead to seek informal help through civil society hotlines rather than lodge a formal report with the authorities.” – August 1, 2020.