Activist: Call a rapist a rapist

It has more impact, says campaigner on assaults within the home

SHAH ALAM: Businesswoman Abjda Zulkifli is against the Malay term sumbang mahram to describe rape cases where the perpetrator has blood ties with the victim.

“When you hear the word ‘rapist’, it has more of an impact.

“Imagine, if it was the victim’s father who is raping her, and we call it sumbang mahram, or incest. It is too soft.

“They are rapists! These perpetrators are rapists. They should be called rapists.

“And, the act should be called rape,” said the 41-year-old motherof-two.

Abjda was one of the founders of a new campaign to bring awareness to rape committed within the home, Stop Rapist in the House, with its hashtag # STOPRAPISTINTHEHOUSE.

She said sexual assaults within the house, of which victims were often children, was an issue that the Malaysian society had swept under the carpet “for far too long”.

Malaysians, she said, needed to know that this type of sexual assault could be committed by anyone, regardless of race or religion, and that something needed to be done to address the issue.

“It will be a long process to completely stop this, but we need to start somewhere,” she added.

She said part of the campaign would also be to empower mothers to report on their husbands if they suspected their husbands or other family members were raping their children.

“Sometimes, the mothers are afraid or are also abused. So, they need to know where to get help if they need it,” she added.

Abjda said they planned to officially launch the campaign throughout Malaysia in January.

Abjda was also a panellist for the Rapist in the House! (Perogol Dalam Rumah!) forum organised by Karangkraf Media Group at its headquarters here yesterday.

Other panellists were criminology analyst Kamal Affendi Hashim, International Islamic University Malaysia law lecturer Dr Mazlena Mohamad Hussain and motivational speaker Datuk Dr Muhaya Mohamad.

Karangkraf Media Group editorial executive adviser Datuk Abd Jalil Ali was the moderator.

Kamal said there was a need for the campaign to be conducted in languages other than English and Malay.

“The issue of sexual assault within the home has been there for years, but we are slow in addressing and solving it,” he said.

For Dr Mazlena, campaigns such as this should also include how to talk to children about their own bodies.

“One of the biggest mistakes parents do is failing to teach our children the correct terms for their (sexual) organs. We, in the East, still like to use subtle terms ( berkiaskias).

“Whereas in the court, if children are the victims, they need to be able to tell the court what was being done to them by the perpetrators so that the court can see whether what was done was a crime under the Penal Code.

“So, if the victims use words like ‘bird’ to refer to a private part, then it becomes vague,” she said.