Child grooming cases have risen by 1000% since 2008 in Australia. In UK, sexual grooming cases up by 32% in a year.
However, there is no statistics on sexual grooming cases in Malaysia, as sexual grooming is not a crime in our country. Nonetheless, police statistics show that chat apps are now the number one modus operandi for sexual predators. This indicates that sexual grooming is on the rise in Malaysia as well.
When launching the National Women’s Day 2016 on August 25, 2016, Prime Minister Najib Razak expressed his regret on the number of rising cases involving abuse and rape of children.
As such, Najib announced an immediate establishment of a task force headed by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Azalina Othman Said to review and examine issues related to sex crimes, particularly rape involving children.
Until today the Special Task Force has met twice, ie on 6 September 2016 and 4 October 2016. The meetings were attended by representatives from AG’s Chambers, Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development, PDRM, Bar Council, Shariah Lawyers Association of Malaysia, academics, and a few NGOs related to children, such as National Council of Women’s Organisation (NCWO), UNICEF, P.S. The Children, Women Centre for Change (WCC), Malaysian Social Workers Association (MASW), International Women Rights Action Watch Asia Pacific (IWRAW) and etc.
In the meeting on 4 October, a draft legal framework on sexual crime against children was presented to the Special Task Force. The legal framework covers various type of sexual crime against children, such as child pornography, online and offline sexual child grooming.
I am pleased to know a legal framework to criminalize sexual grooming has been prepared. However, I urge Minister Azalina Othman Said to be more inclusive and open. The war against sexual grooming is apolitical, opposition Members of Parliament should be included and consulted during the preparation of bill.
Azalina Othman Said is also the Chairlady of Parliamentary Women’s Caucus. She knows very well that female Members of Parliament are capable to put our political differences aside, and work together for the interest of women and children. There is no need to keep the Opposition in dark until the day the bill is tabled in Parliament.
Q & A on sexual grooming from Minister Azalina on October 25.