Kuala Lumpur, Feb 25 (IANS) The divorce rate among non-Malays increased from two percent to eight percent in the first five years since 2000 and was expected to reach 13 percent this year, said an official of the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC)'s women's wing.

Wanita MIC chief P. Komala Devi said there was also an increase in the number of teenaged runaway brides, premarital pregnancies and young single mothers.

She said that these groups of people needed help, noting that most of them came from poor backgrounds.

Malaysia is home to majority Muslim Malays, has significant presence of ethnic Chinese and an estimated two million Indians, a bulk of whom are Tamils who settled here during the British era.

MIC is the oldest party that speaks for the ethnic Indians and is a constituent of the ruling coalition, Barisan Nasional.

Komala Devi said: 'Wanita MIC has initiated programmes to create awareness. From our feedback, we realised that these problems occur due to lack of communication among family members.'

'Some parents don't show enough affection towards their children.

'At times, children become a target to vent their frustration,' she was quoted as saying by The Star Thursday.