WHEN rape occurs, the usual response from our society to overcome violent aggression is to ask women to dress “decently”, or to be more careful when they step out of home, or even to take self-defence classes.

Stop blaming the victims.

For too long women have been blamed and shamed for sexual violations committed against them. The problem is not the way women dress. It is the rapists who are the perpetrators.

We need to stem the problem at the root. In particular, we need to educate our boys to respect women/girls, and that rape is wrong in any given situation at any given time.

Parents must teach their children that it is wrong for sons and boys to harass, molest or rape. The culture of respecting women must start at home.

We need more counsellors who are able to articulate such positive culture in schools. We need the religious groups to teach our boys and men that sexual aggression and rape are wrong.

Deeper problem than it looks

Failure to do so will perpetuate the rape culture in our society. 

A few days ago, it was reported that a 17-year-old girl was gang-raped by nine soldiers in Kluang last December. The girl attempted to commit suicide on January 16. On February 22, she lodged a report at the Kluang police station and on 25 February, she was found to be nine weeks pregnant.

There were 29,698 rape cases reported in 2006-2015. That is an average of 3,000 cases each year and means eight girls or women are raped in Malaysia every day.

It is no secret that the problem runs deeper as a large number of cases go unreported. Parliament estimates that only two in every 10 rape cases are reported to the police and that 87% of the time, the rapist is known to the victim.

Therefore I support Senai assemblyman Wong Shu Qi’s call for the authorities to provide the right support system and better reporting mechanisms.

Proactive action

The Women, Family and Community Development Ministry ought to work with the Education Ministry to take the necessary measures in training, educating, and raising awareness among teachers and students to prevent and report rape and sexual aggression. 

This is important because moral policing has not only failed to deter sexual aggression but also continued to blame the victims

It puzzles me that many religious leaders are not speaking up on this issue. If they oppose sexual violence against women (which I am sure they are), why are they not speaking up against it?

Clearly more prevention education is needed. One rape victim is one  rape victim too many.

 We should put punish the aggressor, not the victim. – February 28, 2018.

* Joyce Tan reads The Malaysian Insight.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.