The HEALTH : June 2018 | Page 13

JUNE, 2018 | The HEALTH issue: mental health 13
JUNE, 2018 | The HEALTH issue: mental health 13
Statistics on violence against women in Malaysia( 2000- 2016)
From Royal Malaysia Police and Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development
Domestic violence

5796

Rape

1698

Incest

253

Abuse of domestic workers Unavailable
Child abuse Unavailable
Outrage of modesty

1526

Sexual harassment in the workplace Unavailable
Statistics on violence against men in Malaysia

26 % of 15,617 cases of domestic violence( 2014 – 2016) were against male spouse

Traits of psychologicalphysical abuse

TYPICALLY within the environment of physical abuse, some components are physical while some are psychological abuse.
Criminologist and University Kebangsaan Malaysia( UKM) senior lecturer Dr Mohammad Rahim Kamaluddin emphasised that psychological abuse is often manifested by shouting, name-calling, blaming, shaming, intimidation and stalking.
“ These tactics are designed to manipulate and control the victim while the abuser exerts his or her own power. Without the psychological abuse to keep the victim in line, the physical abuse would be less effective and the victim would be more likely to leave the abusive relationship,” he said.
Meanwhile, Women’ s Aid Organisation( WAO) communication officer Tan Heang Lee pointed out that the perpetrator often isolates the woman from her social support system, so he may hinder her from maintaining relationships with family and friends.
“ That’ s part of the abuse- the isolation. Even if she wants to do something about it, she often doesn’ t have the support systems around her and that’ s a reason why she doesn’ t have an alternative place to go to,” she said.
Mohammad Rahim explained further that this is done by manipulation and financial abuse where the abuser prevents the victim from working or confiscating his / her credit cards and putting the victim on an allowance with a sole intention of restricting the victim’ s access to money.
Other tactics include asserting dominance in any way possible such as picking out the victim’ s clothes,
Tan Heang Lee.
humiliating the victim in public by telling stories about him / her to friends in order to make the victim feel bad about themselves.
Threatening physical abuse or abuse of others such as pets or children, using intimidation to preserve the power and control which reduces the chance of a victim to question the abuser. This is done as the abuser is typically seeking unquestioning obedience.
Another common trait is where the abuser often attempts to make victims believe the abuse is their fault or deny that it ever happened. This invalidates the destructive effects of both the physical and emotional abuse and may make the victim believe that their merely imagining things.
Those who have different sexual orientation such as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered may be threatened that their sexual identity might be revealed.
social media and messaging platforms, misappropriation of funds or property involving the elderly,” he said.
Katyana Azman.
“ If a mother is going through depression as a result of psychological abuse— it would affect how much she eats, food she consumes, how much she sleeps, how much physical activity she gets, whether she takes prenatal vitamins and whether she goes for her check-ups. All these things will affect the development of the child in the uterus.”
She revealed that there were cases of mothers who experienced domestic and psychological abuse who weren’ t that motivated due to their own feelings to care for their child.
“ In such cases, the fetus is in danger of being aborted or being mistreated because the mother feels so affected by the abuse that she sustains,” she said.
So, even without the child being born, we are looking at a long list of potential things that could happen to the baby. Off-course, as the child makes it into this world, the child is being raised in an
environment that is constantly hostile – it will subsequently affect the physical, emotional development of the child as they grow because one of two things could happen:
• Being a witness of a domestic abuse could result in a child learning from that behavior and becoming abusers themselves
• Learning from the position of the abused— of getting the same sense of diminished self-esteem and insecurities— all the negative things that the abused had received.
“ The effects even if a child had never had a hand laid on him / her could be something really damaging. Off course when that is not addressed in childhood, growing up into an adult, they would develop very skewed perception of what interactions with people, what relationships are supposed to be like which affects how they form lasting relationships; whether it’ s family or romantic relationships. It affects how they bond with other people. And then again, we look at self-esteem and confidence.”
“ It’ s a snowball effect – it starts off with something very isolated and go on and affect them throughout their life span,” she added.
Kalaivani Annadorai.

Key provisions for abuse victims of both genders

Domestic Violence( Amendment) Act 2017
Criminologist and University Kebangsaan Malaysia( UKM) senior lecturer Dr Mohammad Rahim Kamaluddin revealed that the Domestic Violence( Amendment) Act 2017( DVA) covers all aspects of familial relationships.
“ It gives a clear definition of actions that cause psychological and emotional trauma such as threats, insulting the modesty of the victims, leaving distressing messages on electronic,
Interim Protection Order( IPO) and Protection Order( PO)
Under the DVA, the expansion of the IPO and PO includes victims of abusers who attempt to steal from them and those whose actions lead to victims’ depression.
“ It also protects victims against offenders who threaten them or employ third parties to carry out act of violence against them; and offenders who contact victims to harass or embarrass them via any medium including text messaging.”
“ In such cases, an IPO may be issued by the court while police investigations are on-going. If the accused is charged with an offence under the DVA, a PO is served to restrict the activities of the abuser,” he added.
Emergency Protection Order( EPO)
Kalaivani Leticia & Partners Legal practitioner Kalaivani Annadorai explained that an EPO provides temporary protection to victims.
“ The EPO acts as an immediate temporary protection for victims from their abusers, without them having to lodge a police report or go to court.”
“ He or she may visit in person, or in cases where the victim cannot physically come, they can contact via telephone or even send an email to the Department of Social Welfare or Talian Nur which is available 24 / 7 to obtain one. It is issued within two hours after an application is heard by a welfare officer and is valid for seven days,” she said.