 Husbands alleged perpetrators in 80% of spousal violence cases
SINGAPORE: There has been a drop in the number of applications for Personal Protection Orders (PPOs).
This was revealed at a symposium on Thursday, which was jointly organised by the Community Development, Youth and Sports Ministry (MCYS) and the Singapore Police Force.
Participants were told that last year, there were over 2,600 applicants - slightly lower than in 2005.
Spousal violence made up more than three-quarters of those applications.
The remaining 24 per cent comprised of other family members such as siblings, parents and other relatives.
And over 80 per cent of the alleged perpetrators are husbands.
So it is timely that the focus of the National Family Violence Networking System Symposium, which is now into its seventh year, is on "Men and Family Violence".
MCYS says there is now greater awareness of domestic violence, with more victims coming forward to get help for anger management and counselling.
And in the last 10 years, the police too have fine-tuned the way they handle domestic violence cases.
Instead of treating them as domestic issues, priority is now focused on safety and protecting the victims.
Says Dr Maliki Osman, Parliamentary Secretary, MCYS, "It's not just about women being victims. You can help the victims but in domestic violence, we know there's this cycle of violence. And violence will continue unless it's stopped…and I think [the one to] stop the violence is really the men.
"So this symposium is very timely for us to understand that. Men play a very important role in trying to say that violence can be stopped and should be stopped.
"I think the second part of it is not about men being abusive, but also men in general. When men in general tell other men that it's not right to be violent then the message comes across a lot more palatable to the men because they understand each other better, and our experience is that when men hear other men say it, they're more willing to accept those messages." | 
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