Occasionally, we see social media users expressing outrage over high profile rape cases, such as the Kelantan gang rape, which saw 38 men gang-raping a 15 year-old girl [1], or the heartless father in Chow Kit who repeatedly hit and raped his underage daughter who had just arrived in Kuala Lumpur from Sarawak in search of a better life only to have it turn into an unimaginable nightmare[2]. Despite such cases, only a few people recognise the severity of the rape culture problem in Malaysia.
On average, there are 3,000 rape cases reported yearly in Malaysia. What is even more astounding is that only two out of every 10 cases are reported. Even worse, two out of three rape victims are minors (under 16 years old)[3]. How do these numbers translate into real life?
Including the non-reported cases, it is estimated that there are as many as 15,000 rape cases in Malaysia every year. Hence, a rape takes place every 35 minutes – by the time you finish reading 2 articles of this series, one female would have been raped in some corner of Malaysia. And 80 percent of rape victims, many of whom are girls, suffer in silence.
Rape is a very serious issue in Malaysia. And it probably will affect the victims and their families for a life time. When I discussed how we can help to raise the awareness with Karen, my assistant who's doing our women work, we had an initial idea of doing forums. But after much thought, we decided that we should release a video to reach out to more. We are thankful that AWAM (All Women’s Action Society) came onboard to be our partner in this campaign.
Many time rape is perceived as a women's problem, but it is actually about men. So the target audience for this video is the men. I hope that you can help us to increase awareness about rape, watch and share this video to your friends.
Below is my our picture during the video launch and my statement on rape.
Media Statement by Yeo Bee Yin,
State Assemblywoman for Damansara Utama on Tuesday 20 April 2015
No Excuse to Rape Campaign (Rogol adalah rogol. Tiada Alasan)
Pusat Khidmat ADUN Damansara Utama
and AWAM (All Women’s Action Society) have teamed up to run a digital campaign
that aims to break the general victim blaming culture in Malaysia and to raise
awareness about statutory rape, substance-related rape and marital rape.
On average, there are 3,000 rape
cases reported every year in Malaysia and only 2 out of every 10 cases are
reported. In another words, every 35 minutes there is one girl or woman being
raped somewhere in Malaysia.
Rape can only be reduced when we as
a society have greater awareness about the severity of the issue and start
addressing the taboos, myths and mindsets that exacerbate rape culture. One
fact that should be understood clearly is that the act of rape is never the
fault of the victims but the rapists. Many people think that rape is about women but
it is more about men. Hence this digital campaign main target audience is the
men.
