KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 6 – Rape cases in Malaysia recorded an increase of around 10 per cent from 2021 to 2022, based on the Crime Statistics report released by the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) last November 2.
In the report, rape falls under two separate categories of crime: crime index (which includes assault crimes and property crimes) and violence and sexual crimes.
Rape cases that fall under the crime index are prosecuted under Section 376 of the Penal Code (exploiting any persons for the purpose of prostitution).
Meanwhile, rape cases under violent and sexual crimes involve Section 375A of the Penal Code (husband causing hurt in order to have sexual intercourse), Section 375B of the Penal Code (gang rape), and Section 376 of the Penal Code (punishment for rape).
Both rape cases under the two categories rose by approximately 10 per cent between 2021 and 2022.
Under the crime index, rape surged by 10.2 per cent from 1,553 cases in 2021 to 1,712 cases in 2022.
Among assault crimes, rape was the only crime that recorded an increase in the last two years.
Other assault crimes such as murder, robbery, and causing injury recorded plummeting figures from 2021 to 2022.
Rape also recorded the highest percentage of increase among violent and sexual crimes from 2021 to 2022, rising by 9.6 per cent from 1,360 cases to 1,491 cases.
Apart from rape, incest was the only other sexual crime that recorded an increase of 7.8 per cent, from 245 cases in 2021 to 264 cases in 2022.
During the same period, other sexual crimes including unnatural sex, molestation and sexual harassment dipped by 10.4 per cent, 0.5 per cent, and 5.7 per cent respectively.
However, overall, sexual crimes increased in the last two years by 2.9 per cent from 3,209 cases in 2021 to 3,303 cases in 2022.
Selangor is the state with the highest number of sexual crimes occurring in the last three years with a total of 2,478 cases from 2020 to 2023, followed by Kuala Lumpur with 890 cases, and Johor with 859 cases within the same period.
From 2020 to 2022, sexual crimes involving victims aged 18-years-old and below recorded a steady annual increase, with an overall rise of 10.4 per cent for the entire period.
Selangor also has the highest number of sexual crimes against minors, with 955 cases in the last three years, followed by Sabah with 453 cases and Johor with 438 cases.
Among sexual crimes, rape recorded the greatest number of cases, with more than 1,000 cases annually throughout the country from 2020 to 2022.
Rape cases have also gone up every year in that time, with an almost 15 per cent increase for the entire period.
Incest had the second highest number of cases, with over 200 cases every year throughout Malaysia between 2020 and 2022.
The DOSM report also listed the number of detected victims of human trafficking for sexual exploitation by age group and sex in Malaysia from 2019 to 2021.
There were 55 victims in 2019, 20 victims in 2020, and seven victims in 2021. Between 2019 and 2020, four minors were detected as victims of human trafficking for sexual exploitation. There were no victims below aged 18 detected in 2021.
In total, 78 victims above 18 of human trafficking for sexual exploitation were detected from 2019 to 2021. All the victims aged below and above 18 were female.
In violent crimes, domestic violence and physical abuse against children cases throughout the country recorded a decrease of 10.9 per cent between 2021 and 2022.
This follows a significant increase of 40.8 per cent of these cases between 2020 and 2021.
Domestic violence cases dipped by 12.4 per cent, with the number of cases going down from 7,468 cases in 2021 to 6,540 cases in 2022.
However, cases of physical abuse against children went up by 6.7 per cent from 644 cases in 2021 to 687 cases 2022.
In fact, physical abuse against children has been on the rise in the last three years; between 2020 and 2021, there was also an increase of 28.5 per cent, from 501 cases to 644 cases.
