To combat child sexual crimes, the Ministry of Women, Family, and Community Development (KPWKM) is placing blame on the internet, and taking drastic measures to prohibit pornography websites.
Aiman Athirah Sabu, the ministry's deputy minister, recently spoke out about the importance of raising public awareness about the issue of sexual crimes committed against children.
“This happens because of social media and the influence of the internet. Sometimes it’s because of the uncontrollable use of the internet to view pornography websites.
She remarked in response to the announcement made on Thursday by Bukit Aman, CID director, that the number of sexual assaults on women and children in the country rose to 12,890 in 2019 from 11,092 in 2020.
Aiman Athirah argued that the problem is hard to control because of the widespread availability of media such as television, the internet, and mobile phones.
“KPWKM cooperates with several related agencies including police and the Ministry of Communications and Digital (KKD) including the Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC).
“The ministry will continue to examine the space (laxity) and factors that lead to this rampant crime and needs to be jointly dealt with involving all parties,” she said.
She noted that one of the initiatives is the creation of a PDRM team under the Sexual, Abuse, and Child Investigative Division (D11), which is working to enhance protections for child victims.
Previously, it was reported that the MCMC had blocked access to nearly 3,000 porn websites.
