HE NEVER hit her, but Madam Aishya (not her real name) suffered abuse of another kind throughout her 12-year marriage.

She claimed she was raped by her husband.

“He would force himself on me whenever he felt the need to satisfy his urges,”  aid  the 57-year-old woman, who divorced her husband in 1997.

The mother of three added: “I wanted to leave him after I’d given birth to my first child but couldn’t because my family said I would bring shame to them and my in-laws.”

To protect women like her, a group of about 40 have banded together to petition the Prime Minister to make sure men would not get away with marital rape.

Known as No To Rape, the volunteer project, launched on July 1, is spearheaded by bank officer Wong Pei Chi, 25, charity fundraiser Jolene Tan, 26, and freelance designer Mark Wong, 28.

When asked for a response to the campaign, a Ministry of Home Affairs  spokesman wrote in an e-mail: “The matter was extensively debated in Parliament when the Penal Code was amended in 2007. We should maintain the current position, which is a balanced and calibrated one that takes into consideration the  different viewpoints on this sensitive issue.”

Under the Penal Code, husbands who rape their wives can be taken to court only if divorce proceedings have been started or ended, or if the wife has applied for a legal protection order against him.

The No To Rape team is pressing for more.

Ms Wong, who is also the campaign’s spokesman, said they want to collect 10,000
signatures for the cause by the end of September, and submit copies of the  petition to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong via e-mail and hard copy in October.

Presently,  over 1,000 people have put their names to the petition.

rachchan@ sph.com.sg

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