19 October 2007
Thank you, YB Teresa Kok, for your blog posting (http://teresakok.com/2007/ 09/15/mixed- reaction- to-marital- rape-reform/) and the opportunity for the Joint Action Group for Gender Equality (JAG)* to clarify our position on marital rape.
We commend the effort put in by the Special Select Committee on the Penal Code and Criminal Procedure Code and acknowledge the challenges that the Committee, and you in particular, have faced in advocating reforms to upholding and advancing women’s rights, given the various priorities and interests that need to be balanced amidst the immense pressure in your work.
However, we know that you also appreciate how we, as members of civil society, have an obligation to our own constituency, to advocate for the best interests of women in this country.
The revised Penal Code is commendable for highlighting that acts of physical violence committed during marriage are prohibited. However, it is worth remembering that the Domestic Violence Act (DVA) had already criminalised this aspect way back in 1994. This therefore reinforces what the DVA already offers, but clearly, it is not the same as acknowledging the full scope of offences that could be captured under the term “marital rape”.
For example, if a husband verbally or psychologically abuses a wife to force her into having sex, that verbal or psychological abuse too should be criminalised. It is not. If she is dependent on him financially and he threatens to withhold this support unless she consents to having sex, that threat should also be criminalised. Again, it is not.
More importantly, JAG wishes to emphasise its call for marital rape – i.e. when a wife is forced to have sex with her husband without her consent or against her will – to be made a crime, and not just the physical violence or threat of physical violence that the current revised Penal Code provides for.
Until there is better understanding on this issue, JAG believes it is our role to continue raising the public’s awareness of the law’s current limitations.
* The Joint Action Group for Gender Equality (JAG) comprises:
All Women’s Action Society (AWAM)
Malaysian Trade Union Congress (MTUC) – Women’s Committee
Pusat Janadaya (Empower)
Sisters in Islam (SIS)
Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO)
Women’s Centre for Change (WCC)
Women’s Development Collective (WDC)