JOHOR BARU, Jan 26 — Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail today said that domestic violence cases involving women as victims have reached a worrying level with close to 5,000 cases recorded last year.
She said based on statistics obtained from the police, there were 4,963 cases recorded between January and November last year.
“The Women, Family and Community Development Ministry, through the Women Development Office, will continue carrying out specially catered programs to handle violence towards women as it does not only affect an individual but also the family, community and the country as a whole.
“We hope that everyone will give their cooperation and welcome programmes that are carried out to increase community awareness about violence towards women,” Dr Wan Azizah said in her speech during the launching of state-level Santuni Rakyat programme held at the Angsana Johor Baru Mall here today.
Today is Dr Wan Azizah’s first official visit to Johor in her capacity as the deputy prime minister.
She had earlier met with Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Osman Sapian at his official residence in Saujana here for a meeting.
On a separate matter, Dr Wan Azizah said a conducive and enabling environment is important to enable women who have careers to achieve a “work-life balance”.
She said it is these factors that will contribute to the increase of women in the country’s labour force.
Malay Mail had reported in July last year that there was a total of 50,658 cases of rape, incest, molestation, unnatural sex acts, sexual harassment and domestic violence that were recorded from 2013 to May last year, according to data from the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry.
In the report, Selangor, Johor and Kedah were among the states which recorded the highest number of cases in all the categories for the past five years.
