KUALA LUMPUR – The number of male sexual harassment and assault victims is increasing in Malaysia, according to statistics from the federal police.

Data from the Criminal Investigation Department’s Sexual, Women and Child Investigations Division (D11) showed that while female victims still mostly outnumber males, there has been a steady increase in the number of male victims.

In 2023, the police recorded a total of 3,361 sexual harassment and assault cases, with 135 of the victims being male, or around 4 per cent of the total number.

In 2021, the D11 recorded 82 male victims out of the 2,905 total, with that number increasing to 95 out of 2,920 in 2022.

According to police statistics, six offences have been listed as sexual harassment and assault offences.

The offences are rape, molestation, outrage of modesty, gross indecency, spreading of lewd content, and stalking.

Almost half of the male victims in 2023 were linked to cases investigated under Section 509 of the Penal Code for outrage of modesty.

A further 32 men were victims involving the spread of obscene materials.

Two male victims had also been found to be victims of stalking, under the newly minted Section 507A of the Penal Code.

The statistics, however, showed no records of male rape victims, with all 4,491 rape victims in the last three years being women.

While female victims still vastly outnumber male ones, with women accounting for 98.56 per cent of the 9,198 victims of sexual harassment and abuse in the last three years, the police view cases of male victims seriously.

“The scenario in Malaysia shows an increase in the number of crimes committed as well as the number of the crimes being reported,” D11 assistant director Siti Kamsiah Hassan said in an interview with The Star newspaper.

“This increase is due to the evolution of crime on a global scale... sexual crimes involving the Internet as a medium have made such crimes easy to cross country borders and reach a larger target of victims, be it children or adults, male or female, regardless of geographical borders,” she noted.

Assistant Commissioner Siti Kamsiah said that general awareness of such cases has also been on the rise.

“Awareness on the issue has helped give courage to male victims in combating sexual harassment and made it easier for them to share what happened to them.

“Revealing stories and open discussions on social media have also helped male victims in finding the support to not feel shame or fear.

“Awareness campaigns are also a factor in the increase of reports lodged by members of the public and those affected by such offences,” she said.

AC Siti Kamsiah added that the increase in victims was also linked to sexual offenders who target male children.

“Online sexual harassment has given criminals the opportunity to commit sexual offences on children and adults alike, and this includes male victims,” she said.

Crime trends have shown that cases of sexual harassment and assault mostly occur in the workplace, in private homes and in public spaces.

“However, trends also show that cases involving male victims are mostly children and involve suspects who are trusted people (to the victims) and also online acquaintances from games,” AC Siti Kamsiah said.

She said this did not mean that cases could not occur elsewhere as well.

In 2023, a total of 547 sexual harassment and assault cases had been processed in court, according to D11 data.

This was an increase from the 467 cases seen in court in 2022.

“The current laws have been seen as sufficient in combating current crime trends.

“However, improvements and amendments to the laws are always being studied to be on a par with the evolution of crime in order to keep crime-fighting efforts at optimal levels,” AC Siti Kamsiah said.

“What is left is the willingness and awareness from the public, those who have been affected, to come forward and help combat such offences.” THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK