AN average of four women were raped daily in just the first five months of this year in this country. This alarming statistic, especially in the wake of the tragic Canny Ong case, has prompted many Malaysian women to ask: Am I really safe?  

Added to this, almost every day there are reports in newspapers of women being raped. In the last three weeks alone, rape has made the headlines in the local dailies, as in “Six rape factory worker”, “Joyride that turned into rape”, “Brothers held for raping sisters”, and “Mum on way home raped by taxi driver”.