KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 7 Jan — Putrajaya rejected today a law professor’s proposal to create a special government department to protect men from gender discrimination and abuse.
Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Rohani Abdul Karim told reporters in Putrajaya it was important to safeguard men’s rights, but did not see it necessary to set up a special department dedicated to that pursuit, national news agency Bernama reported.
“KPWKM is not just for women only. Everything KPWKM does is for men and women because the family involves the mother and father,” the minister was reported as saying, using the Malay abbreviation for her ministry.
She added that when it came to the protection of children’s rights, boys were given due consideration alongside girls.
Rohani also pointed out that the Domestic Violence Act covered spouses of both genders in home abuse cases, and action can be taken against women who bully their husbands.
Earlier this week, Shamrahayu Abdul Aziz, an associate professor of law in the International Islamic University of Malaysia, said that there was currently no avenue for Malaysian men subjected to abuse and other forms of discrimination to seek and get help, and proposed the set-up of a Men’s Affairs Department.
The lecturer was responding to a recent report by Universiti Putra Malaysia that listed psychological and mental abuses experienced by Muslim husbands among the top reasons behind some 23,800 divorce cases in 2014.
