Dr Shamrahayu Abdul Aziz said men too experienced emotional trauma from discrimination and abuses, including in marriages. — AFP pic

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 4 — Putrajaya should set up a special department dedicated to men’s affairs to protect the gender from sexual discrimination and abuse cases, a law professor proposed today.

Dr Shamrahayu Abdul Aziz, an associate professor of law in the International Islamic University of Malaysia, has suggested a Men’s Affairs Department under the Women, Family and Community Ministry be established, saying it was not only women but men who experienced emotional trauma from discrimination and abuses, including in marriages.

“The approach is needed to form a good husband-and-wife team in working together without any discrimination and physical or mental abusing,” the law expert told Malay daily Berita Harian.

According to a Berita Harian report, a law expert has called for a Men’s Affairs Department to be set up in Putrajaya to address abuses faced by the gender.

She said there was currently no avenue for Malaysian men subjected to abuse and other forms of discrimination to seek and get help.

Shamrahayu was commenting on a report by Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) which showed that psychological and mental abuses experienced by husbands were among the causes to some 23,800 divorce cases among Muslim couples in 2014.

The newspaper also reported the case of a civil servant who was named only as Abdul, who claimed to have been mentally abused by his wife for the past five years.

According to the report, the 33-year-old man said his marriage that had been built on love crumbled after he was diagnosed with an incurable disease in 2010.