She said the government will also engage religious groups, like the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism and not just women’s groups.
“We will call all stakeholders and discuss the amendments necessary to make them more holistic,” she said at the Parliament lobby.
Yesterday, Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Mohamed Hanipa Maidin told the Dewan Rakyat that the government had no plans to criminalise “marital rape” at the moment as it would be almost impossible to prove such cases in court.
He said the chances of the suspect being acquitted of spousal rape were much higher.
The Sepang MP, however, said there were existing legal provisions in the Penal Code to punish those who hurt their spouses.
On a related matter, Yeoh said that many women do not report spousal abuse as the husbands are usually the breadwinners.
“They feel, if they do, they might be left without support.”
She was responding to Hanipa’s statement yesterday that women seldom make police reports against domestic violence.
But Yeoh said women should not worry as there are systems in place and NGOs which could help them.