A Mobile Application for Domestic Violence Victims Support and Evidence Recorder

ccording to a study conducted in 2014 by Pusat Penyelidikan Wanita dan Jantina (KANITA) at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), 9% of women who have ever had a partner in Peninsular Malaysia had domestic violence at one compilation in their lives. In 2010, there were 3,173 cases of domestic violence reported. However, this number increased to 5,014 cases in 2015. According to the Corporate Communication division of Kementerian Pembangunan Wanita, Keluarga dan Masyarakat, calls to Talian Kasih have increased by 57 percent since Perintah Kawalan Pergerakan (PKP).  However, calls and WhatsApp messages to the Women’s Aid Organization (WAO) helpline were reduced to 73% of calls a week during the PKP.  Before PKP were enforced, WAO received an average of 77.5% of calls and message via WhatsApp in a week. This reduction does not mean that there is a reduction in cases because it is feared that the victim will not be able to make calls due to the situation where they are always with the abuser during the period of PKP. This study aims to develop a mobile application to aid and guide people facing domestic violence. The primary function of this application is to help the victim; 1) to record their evidence in audio/video recording, 2) to help the victim to alert the polis in case of emergency, 3) to get help and find the nearest shelter whenever needed. This mobile application is developed using the Flutter framework. Firebase is used as the back-end component to store all the records. The result of this study is the improvement of the existing mobile application for domestic violence in Malaysia.