The state of Penang and the nation was shocked by the vicious rape and murder of a teenage girl recently. It is a senseless tragedy, and is a clear reminder of the growing number of violent sexual crime cases in our nation.

In 2014 alone, Parliament statistics show that there were 4,342 sexual crime cases. Horrifyingly, approximately 60 percent of those victims were children. Media reports state that the perpetrator, a school security guard, has confessed to committing this violent crime and had a criminal record related to drugs and possessing tools for house break-ins. The swift action by the police in identifying and arresting the accused needs to be applauded.

Nevertheless, this incident raises several important questions - why was a person with a criminal record entrusted with the safety of school children? Did the security firm conduct a thorough background check? Have the police updated their internal list of crime suspects which would have alerted potential employers? Do we have in place a system to monitor persons who have been previously been arrested but not charged for committing crimes?

According to the police and the Education Ministry, the blame lies squarely on the security firm who hired the perpetrator. State criminal investigation chief SAC Zakaria Ahmad told the Malay Mail that “security companies must screen their employees”.

As signatory of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Convention of the Rights of the Child, the Malaysian government has a duty to monitor general crimes to reduce violence against both women and children.

This heinous crime is indicative of a larger systemic failure. Careful police monitoring based on reasonable suspicions of persons with repetitive arrests as a preventive measure is one way forward. This supervision is not punishment, but is a crucial step to prevent situations arising such as where crime suspects are entrusted with the safety of school children.

Additionally, the failure of the criminal justice system to hold sexual crime offenders responsible for their actions can lead to perpetrators believing they can escape punishment for their crimes. Women’s Centre for Change’s (WCC) research in 2009 showed that conviction in sexual crime trials stands at only 4 percent.

In a country where most sexual crime goes unpunished, could this brutal rape and murder have been an escalation of criminal behaviour by a person who has had previous brushes with the law seemingly without consequence?

At the heart of the matter is a lack of respect of women. The government plays a crucial role in helping to change society’s mindset about women. If the government is truly serious about preventing violence against women, one of the ways it can do so is by implementing policies which promote gender equality, starting in schools and in the community. Further, investigation, prosecution, and punishment of gender based crime needs to be improved.

What compounds the senselessness of this situation is the fact that violence is preventable. How many preventable deaths and sexual crime have we mourned? How many women and children have been sexually violated due to our passivity and inaction? Too many. We urge the government to increase preventive measures against gender-based violence before tragedy strikes again.

JOSHUA TEH is advocacy officer, Women’s Centre for Change, Penang.