Womens organisations today expressed their dismay that the government is placing more emphasis on punitive rather than preventive and rehabilitative measures in dealing with the incest menace.

In a joint statement today, six women non-governmental organisations voiced their objections to de facto Law Minister Dr Rais Yatims proposals that incest perpetrators be sentenced to life imprisonment with 10 strokes of the rotan (cane).

The organisations are the Womens Crisis Centre, Sisters in Islam, Womens Aid Organisation (WAO), Womens Development Collective, All Womens Action Society (Awam), and the Womens Agenda for Change.

The proposal of implementing harsher punishments will be counterproductive as it will only serve to create further under-reporting. In addition, life imprisonment of the perpetrator (such as the father) would place the family in an economically dire situation, the women groups said in the statement.

They said the sentences presently prescribed under the Penal Code were sufficient punishment and should be imposed based on the courts discretion.

Legal system changes

What is important is to change the whole legal procedure to protect the survivors and ensure conviction of the perpetrator, they said.

They said the government should instead address other inadequacies in the present incest laws by widening the definition of the crime to include male victims and consent issues.

The NGOs also voiced their disappointment at the government for not consulting them when debating and making decisions on these issues.

In a separate statement, Awam also chastised the government for failing to consider the blood ties between the victims and perpetrators.

As it stands, it has become a norm where the victim withdraws after immense pressure from the perpetrator and relatives who believe that it is against their culture to bring to light these offences.

The government should shake itself awake and address issues relating to power relationship between the perpetrator and the child victim. As soon as this reality is accepted by the public, it debunks the myth about incest, Awam said in the statement.

No to public whipping

Meanwhile, the WAO also criticised the governments proposal that public whipping be introduced should there be encouraging public response to it.

WAO is appalled that public whipping which amounts to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment is being considered. A conscious choice to use violence by state authority is unacceptable, said the organisation in a press statement.

However, WAO welcomed Rais proposal to register sex offenders and the introduction of a witness protection programme for victims.

The governments zeal in implementing tougher sentencing on incest perpetrators was fanned by an increase in the reports of such crimes recently.

According to police statistics, 1,400 incest cases have been reported over the last four years involving girls under 16.

The number of incest cases were in decline in the late 1990s. A total of 136 cases were reported in 2000, rising to 246 the following year. Sixty-five cases were reported between January and March this year.