SHAH ALAM, 31 May: The Federal Government has been urged to enhance enforcement in the country, especially the safety issues concerning women, to ensure that they are safe from any criminal conduct.

The Executive Councillor in charge of Welfare and Women’s Affairs, Rodziah Ismail, said that the issue of women’s safety is often brought up and discussed in general, however serious efforts from the government has yet to be felt to this day.

She said that the Federal Government will only implement an action when the crime reported has already happened, without any long-term planning.

“It is certainly no seen (efforts from the Federal Government), so much so that the feeling of security is not felt by Malaysians.

“I have also not seen the implementation of the government’s promise to create a hotline especially dedicated to facilitate women who feel insecure to report to the authorities.

“The BN government likes to do it (take action) only when it has already happened rather than making long-term plans,” she told Selangor Kini.

Rodziah said this in response to the incident where a 14-year old teenager was gang raped by 38 Malay men at a house.

The complainant, who is also Form 3 student, was sent to the Kuala Krai Hospital for further examination.

The preliminary results found sever tearing of the hymen and multiple entries were detected at the victim’s genitals.

Commenting further, Rodziah said that enforcement action should be taken, especially to protect children or under-aged teenagers who are more inclined to elements of crime.

Taking the example of the Selangor state, Rodziah said that the State Government, together with the police and relevant authorities are always making women’s safety a key focus.

She said that this can be seen through the Safe Women’s campaign which took place last year where women were exposed to the dangers of crime and given safety devices such as whistles for protection.

“To protect children, the enforcers can install closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras at school areas so that we can monitor what is happening.

“Monitoring and such efforts should be continued to ensure that unwanted incidents can be avoided,” she added.

NS