KUALA LUMPUR – The government, through the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), has banned about 400 websites with paedophilia and child pornography content as of August this year.
Women, Family and Community Development Deputy Minister Datuk Siti Zailah Mohd Yusoff (Rantau Panjang–PAS) said this is part of the ministry’s efforts to ensure safe social media use with the cooperation of MCMC, especially to protect children against sexual crimes.
Speaking in the Dewan Rakyat today, she said the government has also conducted various programmes for this purpose. They include those for advocacy, prevention, and intervention, as well as social support services for high-risk families and children.
Siti Zailah said this when answering Datuk Seri Shamsul Anuar Nasarah’s (Lenggong-BN) question on the government’s initiatives to prevent child exploitation online.
She said the ministry has worked with other government agencies to form the National Council for Children, as well as the integrated action committee for the management of child social issues on social media. It has also formulated the Child Protection Action Plan (World Cyber) 2015.
Among the advocacy programmes are the Jelajah Kasih Kanak-Kanak Prihatin Rakyat programme, webinars on child safety, and the promotion of a campaign to eradicate online sexual crimes against children.
Shamsul later asked if the ministry is satisfied with its achievement. He highlighted the Malaysian police’s revelation that 30% of sexual crimes involve children under the age of 18 using the WhatsApp chat platform.
On this, Siti Zailah said the ministry will never be satisfied until the crime is fully put to a stop.
She said that the ministry has also been working closely with police on the matter.
“However, law and enforcement alone are not enough. We have to give emphasis on awareness, which should start from families and communities,” she added. – The Vibes, October 5, 2022
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