In recent years, the nation has been traumatised by several cases of women being brutally raped and murdered, such as the case of 16-year-old schoolgirl Audrey Melissa who was raped and murdered on her way to school; that of computer engineer Noor Suzaily, who was raped and murdered by a bus driver; and, of course, the case of Canny Ong.

More recently, the tragic rape and murder of Chee Gaik Yap of Sungai Petani has shocked the nation again and focussed public attention on issues of violence against women and public safety.

The All Women's Action Society (Awam) wishes to express its condolences to the family of Chee Gaik Yap; as well as its disappointment that barely three years after the last Citizens Against Rape campaign, Malaysian society still finds itself seemingly unable to tackle this issue effectively.

Members of the public have written to the media to suggest measures for eliminating rape and increasing women's safety, including chemical castration of rapists, increasing legal penalties for rape, for local authorities to be more attentive to public safety and for women to be more vigilant.

While these measures have their merits, Awam believes it is crucial to realise that they address the symptoms rather than the cause of the problem. For instance, while it is important for local authorities or car park operators to ensure that safety measures such as adequate lighting and CCTV cameras are put into place, this does not solve the problem of rape.

For a start, in order to eliminate rape, we must look at the broader picture and understand why rape happens. One important factor that contributes to rape, for instance, is the culture of violence our society is steeped in.

Movies, the Internet, TV programmes and the media are showing increasingly violent images to the point that we are becoming inured to violence. Images of gore and violence in the media that would have been considered shocking 50 years or so ago are today seen as normal. This 'normalisation' of violence in our society has thus led to more and more people turning to violence as an acceptable means of getting what they want. Also, because it is generally equated with masculinity, for many boys and men, violence especially violence against women is a way of asserting their identity as men.

To tackle the roots of rape we must therefore address these issues. We must oppose the glamorisation of violence in society and we must break the association between masculinity and violence. We must teach boys and men new ways of being masculine that are not predicated on violence and on the oppression of women. Awam suggests that incorporating this into the sexuality education curriculum is one strategy that the government could adopt towards this goal.

In addition, Awam calls upon the government to act on the recommendations on laws related to rape as proposed by the then Joint Action Group against Violence Against Women, now known as the Joint Action Group on Gender Equality (JAG).

These were submitted in a 2004 memorandum to the Special Select Committee on the Penal Code (Amendment) 2004 and the Criminal Procedure Code (Amendment) 2004. We were heartened to hear earlier this month that major changes will be made to the Penal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code in a Bill to be tabled in Parliament in March, but we do not yet know whether JAG's recommendations will be adopted. In particular, we call attention to the recommendation to widen the scope of the law to include a category of 'aggravated rape' for rapes that have an extraordinarily damaging impact on the survivor eg gang rape and, with it, a graded scale of punishment as befits the crime.

Awam also wishes to call for consideration of JAG's recommendation for a legislative framework for the operation of a Compensation/Assistance Board for rape survivors. We must not forget that dealing with the aftermath of rape is made more difficult for many rape survivors due to inability to pay for expenses such as long-term care from a counsellor or psychologist or those associated with court appearances. More attention should be given to supporting rape survivors, not just on punitive measures to be taken against rapists.