Paedophilia is medically defined as a psychiatric disorder in adults or late adolescents (aged 16 or older) typically characterised by a primary or exclusive sexual interest in prepubescent children.
But in law enforcement in Malaysia, as in many other countries, the term paedophile refers to anyone who commits sexual crimes with legally underage victims, which means children below 18 years old.
"In Malaysia, cases involving young children are mostly incestuous. Incest has been taking up about 10 per cent of total rapes recorded yearly for the past five years," says Supt Ong Chin Lan.
Shockingly, statistics show that the one family member most likely to turn sexual predator on the children is the biological father, at a rate of two in every 10 incest cases in the last five years.
Next on the rung are uncles, followed closely by stepfathers, cousins, brothers and brothers-in-law.
Ong herself has visited some convicted fathers who were behind bars, and she found that a few, despite having served 10 to 15 years of their sentence, were "not repentant at all".
"I remember one who told me he was tired on reaching home and when he was relaxing, he saw his daughter playing in front of the house and her skirt was flouncing about; the sight aroused him so he pulled her into the bedroom. He said she didn't fight him so he took it as consent. The girl was just 7! Would she have known what was happening?" said Ong.
They even told her unashamedly that the experience was syiok and "best".
"Incest is often about abuse of power. The children are under the protection of their parents and the father is the ultimate protector, but he turned into the ultimate predator.
"So I always tell people, never think that the home is safe," adds Ong.
