The society’s president, Dr Wong Teck Wee, said existing legislation such as the Domestic Violence Act only provided legal ramifications for physical and sexual abuse of the elderly, which was insufficient.
He pointed out that the elderly were prone to psychological, emotional and financial abuse, and even neglect, which were less obvious compared with physical and sexual abuse.
Speaking to FMT, Wong said Malaysia had no laws that were centred on the elderly in particular, pointing out that the Care Centres Act was, as the name suggested, only applicable to senior citizens who stayed in care centres.
“The World Health Organization (WHO) published a collection of studies and found that the prevalence of elderly abuse and neglect is about 15.7%. That means roughly one in seven elderly people suffer some form of abuse.
“In Malaysia, there are a few publications, with one that says that in the rural community one in 20 elderly people face abuse, but in urban areas the figure is one in 10. The problem is that reporting is not as transparent. Much elder abuse goes unreported.
“According to some of the consensus and rough estimates, they say for every reported case between five to 10 cases are unreported,” he said in conjunction with World Elder Abuse Awareness Day today.
He said one reason that elder abuse goes unreported is that healthcare workers may not be trained to detect the abuse. Another reason is that relatives may avoid reporting incidents to not bring shame to the family.
“Nursing homes risk losing their licenses and getting into legal problems, so some cases could have been covered up. It’s not uncommon in Malaysia,” he said.
Neglect is particularly common, and can be detected if an elderly person appeared malnourished, dehydrated, unkempt or untidily dressed, or had poor hygiene.
He said there were also cases of nursing homes administering sleeping tablets to their residents to keep them asleep for long periods. “They don’t have to look after the senior citizens when they’re not moving around.”
Wong said there is a need for greater awareness of elder abuse within the community. People would then be more alert to possible cases within their own communities and report them to the authorities.
The government could even set up a specific agency to handle such cases, he said, adding that at present cases of elder abuse are handled primarily by social workers in the Social Welfare Department (JKM).