KUALA LUMPUR, March 11 — The Women’s Aid Organisations (WAO) today said that murder cases involving female victims are not merely isolated incidents, but point towards a broader trend — where they are often the result of long periods of domestic violence. 

In a statement today, WAO pointed towards a 2018 United Nations study that showed 58 per cent of female homicide cases recorded globally were committed by intimate partners or family members.

The group said the lack of data on such murders in Malaysia was worrying. 

“Without accurately tracking domestic violence murders, we risk underestimating its prevalence and minimising the seriousness of domestic violence as a whole — all of which ultimately affect our understanding of domestic violence in Malaysia as a whole,” the non-governmental organisation said. 

WAO attributed the lack of statistics to the fact that murder is not officially considered as a form of domestic violence, such as in the Domestic Violence Act 1994 — which covers, among others, physical or emotional injury, forced sexual acts or otherwise, and detainment.

WAO explained that domestic violence is often made up of recurring events that intensify over time, and classifying murder as a form of domestic violence would formally recognise the crime accordingly.

“Murders are often the end result of long periods of abuse, and are planned instead of highly popularised 'crimes of passion'.

“It is essential that first responders like the police know how to accurately track and respond to repeated cases of domestic violence — as abuse intensifies with time, this will enable the police to identify high-risk cases and respond adequately to save lives,” it said.

WAO urged Home Ministry to conduct an analysis of all murders committed in the past five years, to identify how many were committed by intimate partners or family members.

It similarly urged the police to document and track domestic violence-related murders and practice stricter, clearer protocols in managing such cases.

WAO spokesperson Isabel Chung, said her organisation was not asking for an immediate amendment to the Domestic Violence Act 1994, as the process would be lengthy, but instead hopes that the authorities involved would take swifter action to track such cases and prevent more from being victimised. 

WAO cited two recent cases, the first that took place in Tawau, Sabah on last Tuesday, where a husband slit the throat of his heavily pregnant wife, which resulted in her death.

On March 1st, a woman who asked for a divorce during a quarrel was shot dead by her husband while she was sleeping in their home at Johor Baru.