PARLIAMENT | The jail punishment proposed for sexual offences involving children should be increased to at least 30 years and with caning, Mas Ermieyati Samsudin (PN-Masjid Tanah) told the Dewan Rakyat today.
In debating the government's bill to amend the Sexual Offences Against Children Act (SOAC), she said the 20-year maximum jail term for such offence won't be enough as a deterrent.
"If we refer to the offences stated under Section 15A (i) of this bill, they are very serious that 20 years in jail is not enough.
"When a (sexual) video or photo is recorded and gets uploaded on platforms such as social media, the impact it has (on the victim) is not only for a short while.
"It will have a long-lasting effect on the victim because these materials would still be on social media even after the child has grown up.
"How are they going to face this situation when they become adults? It would surely cause major trauma to them," Mas Ermieyati (above) said.
She said the same goes for Section 15B of the bill, which provides a maximum of 10 years of jail time for offences involving extorting children into performing sexual activities.
"I would like to know the rationale behind this 10-year jail provision. Because I think this is such a light sentence and will not deter perpetrators.
"These offences should also include caning as a punishment, similarly for Section 15A which I mentioned just now," she stated.
Mas Ermieyati, who is a former deputy minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Parliament), was referring to Section 15A and Section 15B of the SOAC (Amendment) Bill 2023.
In the bill, the government was proposing to include Section 15A which criminalises activities involving sexual performance by children, including participating in sexual performance by children, watching, promoting or receiving any kind of benefit from such acts.
For these offences, the government proposed to the Parliament for its perpetrator to be punished with imprisonment of not more than 20 years and a fine not exceeding RM50,000.
Under Section 15(B), the bill proposed to criminalise sexual extortion against children, which includes offences of forcing children to share lewd photos of themselves and threatening to distribute such materials to others.
Emulate Indonesia on punishment
In her debate, Mas Ermieyati also mooted that Malaysia should emulate Indonesia in punishing sexual offenders.
According to the MP, the neighbouring country has a law where perpetrators convicted of sexual offences against children can be chemically castrated.
"As in Indonesia, an offender gets castrated using certain chemicals that would reduce their level of testosterone and decrease their sexual urges.
"A similar punishment has also been proposed in India to address serious sexual crimes against children in the country," she said. - Mkini
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