Following the gazetting of the Child Act (Amendment) 2015 on Monday, Women, Welfare and Community Well-being Minister of Sarawak Fatimah Abdullah has urged the Malaysian government to include a broader definition of rape in the amendments.

I fully support this proposal by Fatimah to broaden the definition of rape in the Child Act. In fact several women NGOs had made the same urging several years ago. I myself had urged the government to do the same when I was representing Bukit Mertajam people in the Parliament. I urge the government to take every view into account in order to uphold justice for the victims.

Our law in Malaysia narrowly defines rape as the penetration of the penis into a woman’s vagina without consent. The Penal Code 375 also need to be amended as the definition of rape should include any form of oral or anal penetration using objects without one’s consent.

The case which was referred to by the Sarawak minister is that of the Court of Appeal’s acquittal of a 60-year-old man in the ‘finger rape’ case last year in Sibu. One of the grounds for this acquittal was the definition of rape which specifically only states penile penetration. It was reported in the accused’s defence that he allegedly impregnated the victim by inserting his semen-smeared finger.

Sadly, the victim who was a minor then, gave birth to a child the following year, and Bunya Jalong was proven to be the father through a DNA test. The physiological and emotional trauma the victim had to go through is no less, irrespective how the rape has taken place.

Statistics revealed that there were 37,263 rape cases reported from 2000 till 2015. These involve girls as young as six. Out of these reported cases, only about 16 percent were taken to court, from which less than 3 percent were found guilty. It means that less than 0.5 percent of reported cases ended in convictions. This indicates the difficulty to prosecute perpetrator and bring justice to victims. The BN government should take steps to rectify this disparity.

I urge women exco members in all states to do their duty in representing the interest of women and children to join our voices to effect a necessary amendment to ensure justice for victims of ‘finger and object’ rape.

I also urge all Members of Parliament to play their part to increase protection of children and women in their constituencies and in Malaysia.

CHONG ENG is Penang state exco member for Women, Family and Community Development.