Commenting on a recent case where a 17-year-old girl had attempted to commit suicide after she was allegedly gang-raped by nine soldiers at a hotel in Kluang, Wong said many victims were reluctant to report such cases due to the social stigma attached to it.
“The culture of victim-blaming causes fear and shame to victims.
“It is therefore crucial to provide the right support system and better reporting mechanisms.
“I urge the police and hospitals to strengthen the reporting mechanisms to ensure the victims feel safe throughout the process,” she said in a statement.
Wong, who is also Johor DAP publicity secretary, said the low conviction rate of 7% was also a deterrent for victims to come forward.
“Malaysian law on rape is lopsided in protecting victims’ rights. The system makes it difficult to secure convictions. For instance, the burden of proof is on the victim to show an absence of consent.”
Wong urged the authorities to take serious action to address the weaknesses in the system that lead to under-reporting of rape.
She said in Malaysia, there were 29,698 rape cases reported between 2006 and 2015. This translates to eight rape cases each day, on average. Based on research, many more cases go unreported.
In the Kluang incident, the 17-year-old girl had wanted to jump off the rooftop of the Kluang Parade shopping centre on Jalan Sentul on Jan 16.
However, a guard managed to talk her out of it and later alerted the police.
The victim, who worked as a salesgirl, was initially reluctant to tell police about what had happened to her.
She later lodged a police report stating that she was upset at what her boyfriend had done to her and demanded that action be taken against all the suspects.
It was believed the girl’s boyfriend, a 22-year-old army private, was the mastermind behind the alleged gang rape in mid-December last year.
The nine suspects were handed over to investigators at the Kluang district police headquarters by the Mahkota Camp’s military police corps and have been placed under remand for seven days until March 1.
It was also reported that the girl was now nine weeks pregnant.
Police had said they would be submitting the investigation paper to the Attorney-General’s Chambers.