Nurul Izzah calls for immediate govt action to combat online child sexual exploitation

The Star

22-06-2025

PETALING JAYA: Nurul Izzah Anwar has called for immediate and coordinated government action to combat online child sexual exploitation.
The PKR deputy president described the issue as a 'national disgrace' that demanded collective responsibility from the authorities and society.
Her remarks come in the wake of the exposure of a Facebook group, Group Budak2 Sekolah Rendah, which had amassed more than 12,000 members who were allegedly sharing and passively viewing sexually explicit content involving primary school children.
"This is not just an alarming incident; it is a national disgrace.
"Shutting down the group is not enough. We need immediate, coordinated and decisive actions,' she said in a statement Sunday (June 22).
She urged agencies such as the Communications Ministry, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), police and the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry to intensify efforts against digital predators preying on children.
She called on the MCMC and the Communications Ministry to disclose their current monitoring mechanisms and to demonstrate their effectiveness in detecting child exploitation online.
She also urged police and the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry to release public updates on the recent case and similar cases that have remained outside public scrutiny.
Nurul Izzah also demanded a progress report on the implementation of the Online Safety Act and a briefing in Parliament on the effectiveness of the D11 sexual crimes unit, including additional funding to enhance its operations.
"Malaysia must upgrade its systems to provide early warning for the public.
"To protect our children, we must emulate global initiatives like the Europe-Latin America Initiative for the Safety of Children and Adolescents, a cross-continental police cooperation network tackling child exploitation online,' she said.
Nurul Izzah also proposed public access to the Child Sexual Offender Registry, which was established in 2019, not for public shaming but to safeguard communities.
She urged the Education Ministry to strengthen its health syllabus with digital safety awareness topics.
"We applaud social media activists and influencers such as Mekyun and others for bravely exposing online sexual exploitation to raise public awareness.
"It is time to band together,' she said.
The former Permatang Pauh MP also spoke of her own experience as a victim of online threats, when she received gang rape threats earlier this year.
She said the individual was formally charged with 11 counts of posting indecent and obscene comments about her on Facebook.
Nurul Izzah stressed that while legal tools exist to tackle online sexual crimes, many gaps remain in terms of enforcement, awareness and prevention.
According to official 2023 data, child sexual crimes increased by 26.5%, while child pornography cases surged by an alarming 139.3%.
'These are not just numbers. They are a collective cry for immediate, systemic reform, not just well-worded laws that gather dust,' she said.
She announced that PKR is launching a grassroots campaign to focus on raising public awareness, creating safe spaces for children and strengthening community partnerships with NGOs and educational institutions.
'Parents, teachers, religious leaders, NGOs and the public must rise to protect our children from this growing digital threat,' she said.