Wanita MCA says child safety needs to be taken seriously

Wanita MCA wants better child protection measures against sexual crimes.

This comes after a study on sexual crimes against minors revealed that from 2020 to 2021, cases have increased by 42 percent.

This had even made it necessary for the establishment of more sexual crime courts.

In a statement released to the media today, Wanita MCA national chairperson Heng Seai Kie cited two recent cases involving children. The first is a case where an 8-year-old student was reported missing in Cheras and was later found in a condominium in Bandar Tun Razak.

The second case referred to an 11-year-old female student - who was allegedly molested by her school van driver.

According to Heng, both incidents show that child safety needs to be taken more seriously by everyone.

“Wanita MCA believes that more effort needs to be put into educating children on their rights and boundaries, how to be aware of malicious and suspicious intents, and how to alert their parents, guardians, teachers, or trusted family members about such incidents,” said Heng.

National Sex Offender Registry

She also highlighted the women’s wing’s previous suggestion for making the National Sex Offender Registry publicly accessible.

Heng said that this was for the benefit of parents, school authorities and employers to be able to make background checks on any previous offences.

“This is not an act of discrimination towards ex-convicts, but a proactive step to curb the worrying rise of sexual crimes against children.

“Prevention is better than cure. Furthermore, children who have been harassed sexually could be severely traumatised, and they may even carry that mental scar for the rest of their lives,” said Heng.

Tarnish image

Heng said child safety reflects the mentality of the nation - and if undeterred, it risks tarnishing the nation’s image and reputation.

“The safety of our children reflects the level of our society’s civilisation, mentality, and culture. Hence, we cannot allow these crimes against our children to continue to tarnish our society and our nation’s image and reputation.

“This is on top of the bullying cases in schools which are also on the rise,” said Heng.

Wanita MCA called for action to be taken to make the country a safer place for children. - Mkini