Domestic violence: the Malaysian experience

Abstract

Domestic violence is generally defined as physical, sexual, financial as well as psychological abuse directed towards one's spouse, partner, or other family members within the household. Domestic violence (sometimes referred to as domestic abuse) was initially declared as a "social concern". Attention to domestic violence began in the women's movement as concern about wives being battered by their husbands, and has remained a major focus of modern feminism, particularly in terms of "violence against women". In Malaysia, this has led to the enactment of the Domestic Violence Act 1994 (OVA), which was only implemented beginning June 1996. Under the Malaysian OVA, domestic violence includes the following acts: (i) Willfully or knowingly placing, or attempting to place the survivor in fear of physical injury; (ii) Causing physical injury to the survivor by such an act that is known, or ought to have been known would result in physical injury; (iii) Compelling the survivor by force or threat to engage in any conduct or act, sexual or otherwise, from which the survivor has a right to abstain; (iv) Confining or detaining the survivor against the survivor's will; and (v) Causing mischief or destruction or damage to property with intent to cause or knowing that it is likely to cause distress or annoyance to the survivor. When the Malaysian OVA was first enacted, there was much fervour amongst the women's movement that it would act as an efficient catalyst to reduce cases of domestic abuse in Malaysia. This paper aims to firstly look into whether the OVA is sufficient to combat cases of domestic abuse in Malaysia and to subsequently highlight the loopholes, if any, that may hinder the effective implementation of OVA.