Yeoh: Anger, drug addiction main causes of domestic violence
KUALA LUMPUR: Deputy Women, Family and Community Development Minister Hannah Yeoh said that anger, misunderstandings and drug addiction were the leading causes of domestic violence.
She said that based on the statistics this year, anger was the main cause of domestic violence cases, involving 71 female victims and 14 men.
“48 cases recorded caused by misunderstanding, with all the victims being female, while drug addiction involved 43 women and one man.
“Many families in such predicament do not know where to go for help. Therefore, we ask the Department of Women Development to focus on awareness programmes because many victims of domestic violence do not report the cases because the perpetrator is a husband or family member,” she said.
Yeoh was replying to a supplementary question by Datuk Dr Noraini Ahmad (BN-Parit Sulong) who wanted to know about the measures taken by the ministry to encourage victims and the public to report domestic violence cases.
She said as of June last year, 340 cases of domestic violence had been reported nationwide and the three states with the highest number of cases were Selangor (91 cases), Pahang (56) and Kedah (34).
“However, the statistics recorded by the Social Welfare Department were only 10% of the reports obtained from police, which is 3,139 cases.
“In this regard, we hope the Committee on Addressing Domestic Violence would help monitor and coordinate data to be passed on to the people’s representatives to implement a more focused intervention programme,” she said.
The committee, she said, would play a role in coordinating best practices in addressing domestic violence issues through engaging with stakeholders including government agencies and non-governmental organisations.
Bernama
