An opposition MP has urged the government to allocate funds in the upcoming Budget 2022 to combat sexual violence against children.
This comes after paedophile Alladin Lanim managed to evade arrest for 14 years as he abused children in Sarawak and boasted about it on the dark web.
Following a probe led by Australian police, the Malaysian was arrested on July 5 and later convicted over 14 charges of child molestation.
He was listed as one of the top 10 most wanted child sex offenders in the world since 2019.
Batu Kawan MP Kasthuri Patto questioned if Malaysian police had been unaware of Alladin’s crimes and whereabouts.
She demanded more investment in “technology, equipment, training and expertise” used to trace and arrest child sex offenders in the country.
“How many more Alladins or Richard Huckles are going to fuel their drive and feed their hunger at the expense of violating our children before we prioritise, and with great urgency, bring to the table to invest and devote our blood, sweat and tears to ensure we play an affirmative role to keep our children safe?
“I call on the Prime Minister (Ismail Sabri Yaakob), Finance Minister (Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz), Home Minister (Hamzah Zainudin), Communications and Multimedia Minister (Annuar Musa) and Women, Family and Community Development Minister (Rina Harun) to allocate adequate funds in Budget 2022 for the technology, equipment, training and expertise in putting an end to sexual violence against children in our own backyard and in the region,” Kasthuri said in a statement today.
Alladin is the second high-profile child sex offender convicted for crimes in Malaysia after British national Huckle.
The latter abused some 200 children in Kuala Lumpur from 2006 until he was arrested by UK officials in London’s Gatwick Airport in December 2014.
At the time, questions were raised over why Huckle had managed to evade arrest for nine years despite how UK officials had informed Malaysian police about his activities.
Elaborating, Kasthuri recalled asking about the matter in Parliament but was told by Deputy Communications and Multimedia Minister Zahidi Zainul Abidin that airports were not equipped to detect child pornography as there was a lack of funding for it.
Neither was there an allocation for such equipment in Budget 2021.
“When a country like Malaysia prioritises and invests in the technology, equipment, training and expertise to be another frontliner in the region to combat all forms of violence against children, including sexual violence, it sends a strong message to our Asean counterparts and the world that the country is serious in this warfare against sexual predators,” she stressed. - Mkini
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