Citizen's coalition Man's Action Network against Violence - or Man V for short - calls upon all men to break their silence on violence against women, and commit towards creating safe spaces for women.

The group urged them to demonstrate their support by joining Sunday's anti-rape event organised by the All Action Women's Society of Malaysia (Awam).

"Man V submits that not all men are rapists, nor are they potential rapists," said group member Yunus Ali in a press statement today.

"As socially responsible men and the silent majority, (we) should come out in force ... to vocally and actively condemn the crimes of rape and deplore all acts of violence against women," he added.

Yunus said statistics on women-targeted crimes paint a grim picture of our society. In any given day, there is an average of four reported rape cases, and a total of 40 cases of violence against women.

He added that all men, who love their sisters, mothers, grandmothers, daughters, wives and care about the women of Malaysia should attend the Awam gathering.

Awam's Citizen's Against Rape campaign will start at 2:30pm at Kolej Damansara Utama in Damansara Jaya, Petaling Jaya. Women and Family Development Minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil is expected to attend.

Police permit

Awam's first attempt at organising the campaign on July 20 was thwarted when the Brickfields police refused to grant the group a permit.

Despite a subsequent last minute change of venue, the event failed to materialise when the police refused to grant the group an indoor permit on grounds of technicality .

The campaign was prompted by the brutal rape and murder of 28-year-old IT analyst Canny Ong which made the headlines.

Man V is an informal group of concerned men working since July 2002 to eradicate violence against women through series of training workshops and discussions.

Two events are slated for Man V's upcoming calender. On Aug 16, a discussion will be held to address the issue of rape and men as aggressors to such crimes.

From Sept 19 to 21, Canadian trainer Michael Kaufman is slated to speak on the theme of: 'New partnerships between men and women'.

In addition, the group meets every third Saturday of the month for informal discussions on sex and gender, sometimes led by guest experts.

For updates on all of Man V's programmes, please contact Yunus Ali through email at azumin@tm.net.my