The COVID-19 pandemic and domestic violence: A review during the Movement Control Order in Malaysia

Since the COVID-19 pandemic is actively spreading in the country, the government has implemented a movement control order (MCO) on the entire society to control the spread of the virus. The impact of the implementation of MCO has created various social crises, especially the issue of domestic violence (DV). Thus, this article aims to examine the impact of MCO on the issue of DV in terms of contributing factors and the role of stakeholders in addressing this issue during MCO. The study involved secondary data collection and content analysis. Our findings indicate that during the MCO period, there are six contributing factors to DV, namely environmental constraints, drug and alcohol influence, dependence on spouses, lack of strong support system, individual internal conflict, and lack of knowledge about DV. There are several government agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that have concern and carry out their responsibilities to assist in terms of financial, campaigns, counselling, and protection on these issues during the MCO. This study is referred vital in giving an overview of the DV issues that occurred during the MCO, especially in Malaysia and it is hoped that relevant stakeholders can further formulate a holistic strategy to address and combat the DV issue that is increasingly getting critical in this country.