People who are caught for committing incest often justify it as their way of educating the victim on sexual matters, criminology experts said.
Criminologist Dr Mohammad Rahim Kamaluddin said the offenders tended to exhibit distorted thinking, belief or reasoning patterns such as giving sex lessons to the victims.
He said they did not consider the act as illegal but their responsibility to teach their child, sibling, grandchild or other specific family members about sex.
This, he said, was commonly used as justification to mitigate their feelings of guilt for their crimes.
Rahim said this was usually prevalent among father-daughter relationships and between siblings.
“For father-daughter incest, he feels responsible to teach her on things related sexual issues.
“Some of them feel that ‘Okay, since I am providing everything for her – custody, food - it is okay if I do this’… these men like to claim ownership.
“While in most incest cases between siblings, they do not feel it is wrong to do it with the same gender but immoral to do so with the opposite gender.
“As some also feel that the victim are under their custody and control, they feel confident that they can perform such an act as it is easier to manipulate and hide it from others,” he told the New Straits Times today.
Incest, Rahim said was not predictable but the first thing people should do was to stop condoning such acts, regardless who the person was.
He said in many Asian cultures, incest cases tended to go unreported as people related it to family honour.
“They (the offender and family members) try to gain sympathy from the victim, it is ignored and the abuse continues.
“Look for signs such as their walking gait… If the victim was sodomised, they might be in pain and have difficulty to walk properly.
“If a particular person is afraid of another family member, there must be something wrong.
“Bring them to counselling or have discussion without the person they fear present,” he said, adding that cases such as this were usually revealed by accident or on purpose.
Another criminology expert Datuk Akhbar Satar said those who engaged in incest was due to the easy access to their own children.
He said when the offenders had no “source” to have a legitimate sexual relationship, they could simply grab them for satisfy their lusts.
“Moreover, the victims are usually too scared to report the case.
“Offenders are usually ‘too high’ on sexual images and easily influenced by pornography that they hallucinate rape scenes.
“There are those who also use rape as a ‘tool’ for punishment,” he said.
Both Rahim and Akhbar said it was time Malaysians took a greater interest in what was happening in their surroundings and helped identify wrongdoings instead of taking a passive stand.
“Be proactive. Whether it happens or not is secondary. The priority is to eradicate it. Don’t be a bystander.
“The legal system and enforcers have been doing their best to protect the children especially with the new Special Court on Child Sexual Crimes.
“However, it starts from home and parents or guardians need to attend seminars and talks on the issue, and teach children on sexual education,” Rahim said.
Akhbar said crime prevention was an obligation of everyone in the society such as parents, schools and families to ensure children are safe.