Minister, PKR Women want crackdown on online child sexual exploitation

Summary

• PKR Women calls on authorities to act swiftly against crimes involving child sexual exploitation and urges everyone to be proactive in protecting children from such online threats.

• FT Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa encourages children to also speak up if they feel threatened online.

Women leaders have called on the community to remain vigilant in protecting children from online sexual exploitation and also highlighted the importance of encouraging children to speak up when they don’t feel safe.

Following the emergence of online groups allegedly sharing such content, PKR Women pressed the authorities to act against crimes involving the sexual exploitation of children and the spread of such material.

It also said parents and the public must do their part in proactively safeguarding children from such dangers by monitoring social media or online groups that contain explicit material, grooming behaviour, or inappropriate comments.

"The entire community is urged to immediately report (such activities) to the authorities and take responsibility for protecting children," the party wing said in a statement today.

Yesterday, an influencer raised the alarm on Facebook groups said to be promoting indecent content concerning children, after she was informed her picture as a schoolgirl was being circulated there.

‘Don’t be afraid, speak up’

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Federal Territories) Dr Zaliha Mustafa, meanwhile, encouraged children not to be afraid to speak up if they feel unsafe or threatened in digital spaces.

"Get help, find a teacher, talk to your parents or a counsellor. Don't let silence consume you and become the cause of prolonged suffering," she advised SJKT Thamboosamy Pillai pupils in a speech today.

The minister was launching the CyberSafe programme to bolster digital safety awareness among students in Tamil vernacular schools.

Zaliha emphasised the urgency of addressing online threats such as cyberbullying, sexual exploitation, and privacy breaches, particularly among children and teenagers.

"In today's world, the boundaries between physical and virtual reality are becoming increasingly thin.

“What happens in cyberspace will indirectly affect an individual's emotions, safety and self-worth, especially if they are from a generation that is growing up like the children in front of us," she said.

Citing a 2022 report, she said four percent of Malaysian youths aged 12 to 17 were victims of online sexual exploitation within a year.

Additionally, a study by CyberSecurity Malaysia found that 27 percent of students had experienced cyberbullying, while 13 percent admitted to bullying others, she added.

She also noted the rise in child sexual crimes, which increased by 26.5 percent in 2023 compared to the previous year, according to data from the Statistics Department.

"It is even more worrying when things like this do not happen in an open space, but rather they happen unnoticed where they sneak into our children's personal space.

"The digital world has become a part of our daily lives, at home, at school, at shopping malls, wherever (we are), therefore, maintaining its safety is everyone's shared responsibility," she added.

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COMMENT | LGBTQ+ vilified, child predators enabled