KUCHING: A total of 3,640 cases of domestic violence were recorded nationwide from January to August this year.
Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri said that although the number had a slight decrease from the year before, the number of cases remains high.
She stated that, based on the statistics from the Royal Malaysian Police (RMP), the cases of domestic violence in Malaysia from 2020 to August 2023 totaled 22,908.
“There is a high increase in cases in 2021 which is 7,468 cases compared to 2020 which recorded 5,260 cases.
“Whereby for the year 2022, the number of domestic violence shows a slight decrease to 6,540 cases,” she said this when officiating at the Semarak Skuad Waja Programme at the UCSI Hotel today.
In line with this, she revealed that Sarawak recorded the third highest number of domestic violence after Selangor and Kedah.
With the worrisome number of cases, she urged all communities to come together to help the government eradicate violence, especially against women in this country.
“The responsibility of combating violence against women does not rest solely on the shoulders of the government.
“But it is a shared responsibility that must be borne by everyone, including the local community,” she said.
Meanwhile, referring to the programme, Nancy stated that the Waja Squad has registered a total of 328,558 members according to statistics from 2021 until December 2022.
Of that number, she said, 253,973 members, or 77.3 per cent, were women, while the remaining 74,585 members or 22.7 per cent were men.
Through the establishment of the Waja Squad, she said, a total of 1,012 psychosocial programmes have been carried out in communities across the country.
“The results of the programme have involved a total of 72,942 participants who have been successfully impacted,” she said.
The Waja Squad programme aims to raise awareness about violence against women and teach the best methods to combat it.
For the record, this programme today was the first official Waja Squad programme in Sarawak involving the community under the Santubong Parliamentary.
