There is serious deficiency within the police force, especially in dealing with cases of domestic violence, because only 8.22 percent or 817 out of 9,938 cases have seen conviction, said DAP's Bukit Mertajam MP Steven Sim.

The increase in cases of domestic violence in the last 10 years, Sim said, has been about 27 percent.

Therefore, the police force has to be trained to deal with crime against women, which often requires extra sensitivity.

NONE "The society, government and even the police have to realise that domestic violence is not merely a private matter," Sim ( right ) said in a statement.

"It is a criminal act, punishable by law, specifically the Domestic Violence Act 1994. Hence, cases of domestic violence should not be taken lightly by anyone," he added.

Sim said the victims usually had to suffer in silence because of their relationship with their perpetrators.

"Often, the safety and suffering of the victims are set aside in order to avoid shaming the family.

"Once this is overcome and a victim finally lodges a police report, she usually faces insensitive or worse, judgmental officers, who make the process of seeking protection and justice even harder," he added.

Sim was referring to a Malaysiakini report yesterday on two cases of violence against women, one in Bukit Mertajam and another in Seremban.

According to the report, the brother of one of the victims claimed that although a police report was lodged, "the police refused to act because there were no visible injuries and this was deemed a domestic dispute".

Police reports did not help

Recently, Sim said, a victim of domestic violence in Bukit Mertajam, Lai Siew Fong, succumbed to severe burn injuries after she was set on fire following a so-called "domestic quarrel".

He claimed that family members said Lai had lodged numerous police reports on domestic violence before and that she had attempted to apply for interim protection order (IPO), but all to no avail.

Sadly, he added, this was the experience suffered by many victims of domestic violence.

Police officers, admittedly sometimes out of good intention, looked lightly upon domestic violence reports because they were "merely domestic quarrels", he added .

In his parliamentary speech last July, Sim said, he had called upon the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry to, among others, look into amending the Domestic Violence Act 1994 to streamline its application and the enforcement of the IPO.

In her reply to his parliamentary question in the last sitting, he added, the minister, Rohani Abdul Karim, said cases of domestic violence have been on the increase since 2010.