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New Straits Times
2 days ago
- New Straits Times
Criminologist calls for new laws to curb AI porn
GEORGE TOWN: New laws and mechanisms are needed to curb the spread of Artificial Intelligence (AI)-generated pornography, said a criminalogist. Datuk Dr P. Sundramoorthy, from Universiti Sains Malaysia's Centre for Policy Research , warned that such content posed serious risks to the mental health of victims, especially minors. "The law is playing catch-up while technology is sprinting ahead," he said. "In the meantime, our youths are exposed, our victims are silenced, and our justice system is ill-equipped," he told the New Straits Times. He said the Penal Code was not designed for a world where "anyone with a smartphone can destroy a person's reputation in minutes". "The fact that a teenager could so easily exploit his peers using off-the-shelf technology should terrify us," he said. Sundramoorthy was referring to the arrest of a 16-year-old private school student in Johor for allegedly using AI to edit and sell lewd images of his female classmates. He is being investigated under Section 292 of the Penal Code for selling and distributing obscene material and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act for improper use of network facilities. Sundramoorthy said Malaysia needed laws that reflected the realities of digital abuse and empower ed victims with protection and redress. "Victims often suffer twice. Once from the abuse itself, and again when society shames them into silence. This mirrors the trauma of sexual assault, where victims are blamed instead of supported." He called for legislation that defines and criminalises AI-generated and deepfake pornography, and for fast-track content removal mechanisms on social media. "This could be similar to the 'Take it Down' Act in the United States," he said. "The time for reform is now. Not after another teenager is victimised, not after another viral scandal." Women's Aid Organisation (WAO) advocacy officer Tamyra Selvarajan said Malaysia's reactive legal framework failed to address the long-term psychological and reputational harm faced by survivors. "Our laws are growing, but they are still largely punitive, not preventive or restorative," she said. "There is no equivalent of the 'Take it Down' Act here. Survivors are often left waiting, reporting to authorities while harmful content remains live and circulating." Tamyra said survivors, particularly women and minors, often navigated a confusing legal and enforcement maze, with no clarity on which agency held jurisdiction. "The problem is far from theoretical," she said. Tamyra said WAO handled a case this year involving a woman victimised by AI-generated porn. In another case documented by the All Women's Action Society (Awam) Telenita Helpline, a man was blackmailed with intimate videos recorded during a video call. Tamyra said these cases highlighted key system gaps: no centralised reporting platform, no mandated takedown timelines and no survivor-centred support services. She urged the government to consider a law akin to the US "Take it Down" Act, noting that existing Malaysian legislation, including the Penal Code, Communications and Multimedia Act, Anti-Sexual Harassment Act and the Sexual Offences Against Children Act, were not designed for the era of AI and deepfakes. "If a country like the US, often criticised for its fragmented approach to tech regulation, can pass a federal law within months, Malaysia must at least begin with serious intent. "What we're asking for is not censorship, it's dignity, safety, and justice," she said
News18
23-05-2025
- Business
- News18
IIM Calcutta Launches Executive Programme In Public Policy & Management, Details Here
Last Updated: IIM Calcutta has launched a one-year Executive Programme in Public Policy and Management to equip professionals with skills in policy-making, governance, and strategic leadership. The field of public policy is growing fast and becoming more important for building strong governance and promoting social and economic progress. A report by the Centre for Policy Research says that over 60% of major policy decisions in the last five years have used data and technology to make better choices. This shows a big move towards data-based decision-making and highlights the need for trained professionals who can create practical, impactful policies. IIM Calcutta, one of India's top business schools, has launched a new Executive Programme in Public Policy and Management to meet this need. IIM Calcutta is globally recognised, with its MBA programme ranked 56th and its MBA-Ex programme 61st in the Financial Times Global Rankings. It holds prestigious accreditations from AACSB, AMBA, and EQUIS. What Does The Programme Offers? This one-year programme helps working professionals develop real-world skills in policy analysis, regulation, strategic communication, and impact assessment. It prepares learners to create and manage policies that support social, economic, and environmental sustainability. Participants will explore current ideas such as street-level bureaucracy and new public management, and understand local, national, and global policy-making. The course also teaches leadership and management skills that are useful in public, private, and non-profit sectors. It helps participants improve governance and compliance, especially in corporate environments. Who Can Join? It's ideal for policy advisors, strategists, planners, senior executives, faculty from administrative training institutes, media professionals, and entrepreneurs looking to influence policy decisions. The programme is taught through live online sessions by IIM Calcutta faculty and policy experts. It includes: A 6-day on-campus visit to IIM Calcutta for networking and learning Case studies, simulations, and a final capstone project Peer interactions with professionals from diverse fields What Participants Will Learn and Achieve? Participants of the programme will gain a comprehensive understanding of how public policies are created and analysed. They will explore best practices in effective policy formulation and learn to navigate the social, political, legal, and cultural factors that influence policymaking. The course also equips them with modern tools and approaches to enhance governance, along with valuable skills in strategic management, legal frameworks, and data analysis to support effective implementation. Programme Details Start Date: June 28, 2025 Duration: 12 months Mode: Live online classes Eligibility: Graduates/postgraduates with at least 3 years of work experience Certificate: Participants who complete the programme with 75% attendance will receive a certificate from IIM Calcutta and can join its Executive Education Alumni network. First Published: May 23, 2025, 07:28 IST News education-career IIM Calcutta Launches Executive Programme In Public Policy & Management, Details Here
Nikkei Asia
12-05-2025
- Business
- Nikkei Asia
Trump's China reset shakes up global geopolitics
Brahma Chellaney, a professor of strategic studies at the independent New Delhi-based Centre for Policy Research and fellow at the Robert Bosch Academy in Berlin, is the author of nine books, including "Water: Asia's New Battleground" (Georgetown University Press), which won the Bernard Schwartz Book Award. U.S. President Donald Trump's most consequential legacy may be his strategic pivot to confront China. For decades, successive American administrations pursued a policy of integrating China into the global economy, believing that economic liberalization would gradually lead to political reform. That gamble failed. Trump, during his first term, was the first U.S. president to openly acknowledge this failure and recalibrate policy accordingly.
Time Magazine
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Time Magazine
Why Gulf States, More Than the U.S., Are Key to Prevent War Between India and Pakistan
The crisis embroiling India and Pakistan continues to spiral. Pakistan's military claims to have killed 40 to 50 Indian troops along their de facto border in Kashmir and downed 29 Indian drones during Thursday night and Friday morning, in response to India striking multiple locations in Pakistan on Wednesday that it claimed were 'terrorist camps.' The current unrest was sparked by last month's deadly terrorist attack on tourists in the India-controlled part of the restive region of Kashmir, which left 25 Indians and one Nepali national dead. New Delhi has pinned the bloodshed on Islamabad, which denies complicity and called for an independent investigation. But with both sides blaming the other for every escalation, full blown war appears worryingly close. On Thursday, Pakistani Army Chief General Ashi Munir stood atop a tank during a military exercise to address his troops. 'Let there be no ambiguity,' he said. 'Any military misadventure by India will be met with a swift, resolute, and notch-up response.' For Bharat Karnad, an emeritus professor in national security studies at New Delhi's Centre for Policy Research, everything rests on Munir, who's 'something of a hot head,' he says. 'He's a Quranic literalist, one of the true believers, who's spoken about Ghazwa-e-Hind,' referring to a holy war against India mentioned in the Hadith. Conversely, Fawad Chaudhry, a former Information Minister under Pakistani ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan, believes Indian leader Narendra Modi is the chief villain and set on redrawing the boundaries in Kashmir to secure his legacy in the face of plummeting poll numbers. 'He wants to be a bigger leader than Gandhi or Nehru,' Fawad tells TIME. 'So I think he will actually expand the theater of war.' The specter of two nuclear-armed foes once again trading blows over disputed territory that they have already waged two wars over has naturally alarmed the international community. On Wednesday, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres warned that 'a military solution is no solution.' On the last two occasions that India and Pakistan clashed significantly over Kashmir, in 2016 and 2019, the U.S. played a key role in deescalating tensions. However, today's Trump administration is taking a hands-off approach, with Vice President J.D. Vance telling Fox News that the spat was 'fundamentally none of our business.' 'The Pakistanis don't have that 'out' that they used to have of relying on Washington to ride in like the cavalry to save them,' says Karnad. So, we're all screwed then? Not so fast. Into the fray is instead galloping an unlikely arbitrator: Gulf States, in particular Saudi Arabia, who are today playing a key though unfamiliar peace-making role. On Thursday, Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir made a surprise visit to India to meet External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and help broker a climbdown. Peace is clearly in Riyadh's interests, given Saudi Arabia currently hosts some 2.6 million Indians working alongside a similar cohort of Pakistanis. After all, when the Kashmir attack unfolded, Modi was in Jeddah to discuss the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor and advance an investment deal worth $100 billion. 'Gulf states by the nature of their relationships with Pakistan and India are going to become more active in urging the two states to exercise restraint,' says Samina Yasmeen, director of the Centre for Muslim States and Societies at the University of Western Australia. 'It's in their interest to make sure that the region is stable.' Still, it's a remarkable transformation for Saudi Arabia in particular, which has long been the world's preeminent exporter of Islamist terrorism. From financing 9/11 to waging war against the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen to the torture and murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the kingdom has been an undeniably destabilizing presence. However, regional dynamics have shifted in recent years. The Gulf's swelling economic and diplomatic clout has corresponded with interests replacing ideology as the chief driver of foreign policy, as illustrated by the remarkable (though ultimately aborted) negotiations toward the normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel. At any rate, the historic Great Powers are no longer the sole repositories of global influence. Other than the Saudis, nations like Qatar and the UAE are filling the vacuum. Rather than fanning the flames by backing fellow Islamic state Pakistan in the ongoing crisis, Qatar and the UAE both urged restraint. Doha even went so far as to back New Delhi in the spat, at least according to an Indian readout. Still, things are complicated. China remains a key investment and security partner of Pakistan, and it was Chinese J-10C fighters armed with its PL-15 missiles that shot down five Indian Air Force jets on Wednesday. In addition, China is another claimant in disputed Kashmir, controlling two slivers of the territory adjacent to its border. 'China cannot remain aloof from this conflict,' says Chaudhry. 'Any territorial adjustment by India will not be acceptable to China. That's not for Pakistan—that's for China's own interests.' But the fact that it is interests, rather than values or ideology, that are ultimately driving all regional actors marks a distinct departure from orthodoxy. For a long time, Pakistan clung to the idea that as a Muslim state, it had a higher claim of loyalty from the Gulf compared to India. Today, however, despite religious differences and divergent value systems, India has emerged as a very significant actor in the Gulf. 'It's not the strict alignments that we saw in the Cold War era,' says Yasmeen 'It's a more fluid situation in which all these countries—India, Pakistan, included—try and explore what they can get from other parties.' Iran, for example, is a fellow Muslim nation that shares a border with Pakistan, which itself hosts a large Shia population. Yet Iran is arguably on better terms with India than Pakistan these days. Tehran has expressed 'heartfelt condolences' to India over the Kashmir terrorist attack. On Wednesday, Iran's Foreign Minister visited New Delhi just hours after leaving Islamabad and offered to help deescalate tensions. Like many nations across the Gulf, India has significant interests in Iran, including a long-standing agreement to develop and operate the Shahid Beheshti terminal at Chabahar Port, including a $120 million investment and a $250 million credit line for infrastructure development. Ultimately, no regional actors want another India-Pakistan war. Still, analysts fear that a Rubicon may have been crossed. One burning issue is Modi's suspension of the Indus Water Treaty that governs water flows south to Pakistan and his desire to renegotiate it for India's benefit. And on April 24 Pakistan suspended the 1972 Shimla Agreement, which essentially means Kashmir's Line of Control—the de facto border—reverts to merely a ceasefire frontier. Under international law, a ceasefire line can be changed to the advantage of either party by military means. 'A psychological barrier has been breached,' says Karnad. 'Now the Indian military has legal sanction to do more than just destroy a few tanks, gun positions, and then go back.' It all means that even if careful diplomacy provides an off-ramp to current tensions, there will be no quick fix and constant, earnest mediation will be necessary to keep things from boiling going forward. 'A lot now depends on whether Saudi Arabia will exert pressure on India,' says Fawad. 'Otherwise, war is imminent.'
New Straits Times
05-05-2025
- New Straits Times
Criminologist: Police need SOP to keep victims, complainants informed
GEORGE TOWN: A leading criminologist has called for police to introduce a formal standard operating procedure (SOP) that mandates regular updates to complainants and victims of crime. He said there is currently no clear-cut, publicly established SOP. Datuk Dr P. Sundramoorthy from Universiti Sains Malaysia's Centre for Policy Research said, doing so, would position the police as a forward-thinking, community-oriented institution. He suggested four key recommendations: mandating scheduled updates at predefined intervals (example: every 30 days) during active investigations, designating a liaison officer or case officer responsible for communication with each complainant, leveraging digital tools such as SMS notifications, email updates, or a secure online portal, and providing clear closure communication when cases are classified as "no further action" (NFA). "By adopting these measures, the police can enhance its service delivery, rebuild public trust and align with international best practices, ultimately reinforcing the principle that justice must not only be done, but must also be seen to be done," he told the New Straits Times. He said, indeed, there were many complaints about this matter in general. Elaborating, Sundramoorthy said, in Malaysia, members of the public who lodged police reports especially in criminal cases, expected transparency and consistent communication from law enforcement authorities. He said while the police operate under internal procedures, there is currently no clear-cut, publicly established SOP that mandates regular updates to complainants or victims of crime. "Although, over the years, there have been directives as per Inspector General's Standing Order (IGSO), the absence of consistent implementation and monitoring contributes to frustration, erosion of trust, and a negative public perception, particularly when investigations appear prolonged or inconclusive," he added. Under the current practice in Malaysia, upon filing a police report, complainants are given a copy of the report (Report A) and, in some cases, contacted by the Investigating Officer (IO) for additional information. Beyond this initial contact, there is no mandatory requirement for police officers to provide systematic or scheduled updates. Section 107A of Malaysia's Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) does grant complainants the right to request information on the progress of a case. Sundramoorthy said, however, this provision does not require proactive communication by the police. "Consequently, complainants often find themselves having to follow up persistently, which may result in feelings of neglect or dissatisfaction. "If the police are to implement a formal and mandatory SOP requiring regular updates to complainants whether in writing, via phone, or digital communication, it will greatly enhance the transparency and accountability of the institution. More importantly, it will reflect a culture of respect and empathy toward victims of crime. "The public is generally realistic in understanding that not all criminal cases can be solved due to various limitations, including lack of evidence or uncooperative witnesses. "However, complainants are often deeply appreciative when they are simply kept informed of developments, even if there is no major progress. The act of consistent communication alone fosters trust, promotes goodwill, and contributes positively to the image of the police," he said. A review of practices in civil democratic societies reveals how proactive communication with complainants and victims has become a hallmark of modern policing: In the United Kingdom, under the Victims' Code, police are obligated to provide updates at least every 28 days during ongoing investigations. Platforms like "TrackMyCrime" allow victims to monitor their cases online. In Canada, the Canadian Victims Bill of Rights guarantees victims access to information about their cases. Police departments such as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the Toronto Police Service operate Victim Services Units to ensure regular contact and support. In Australia, Victoria Police implements a Victim Contact Policy that mandates regular engagement with victims, especially in serious crime cases. Officers receive training to communicate compassionately and effectively. In the United States, many American jurisdictions offer automated notification services like VINE (Victim Information and Notification Everyday) and embed victim advocates within police departments to provide continuous updates and support. Sundramoorthy said these examples demonstrated that a structured approach to communication was not only achievable but also critical to maintaining public confidence in law enforcement.
