PETALING JAYA: PKR deputy president Nurul Izzah Anwar has issued an urgent call for coordinated government action against online child sexual exploitation following the recent exposure of a Facebook group containing explicit content involving primary school children.
In a statement today, Nurul Izzah described the discovery of the ‘Group Budak2 Sekolah Rendah’ Facebook group, which had over 12,000 members consuming sexually explicit content involving children, as “not just an alarming incident” but “a national disgrace.”
The statement comes after Nurul Izzah herself was targeted with online gang rape threats in January, with the perpetrator formally charged on June 18, for publishing 11 obscene and offensive criminal threats.
Nurul Izzah called for immediate action from several government agencies, including the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM), Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), and Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development (KPWKM).
Her demands include requiring MCMC to outline monitoring mechanisms for detecting online child exploitation, public reports from KPWKM and PDRM on similar cases, and a detailed implementation update of the Online Safety Act to be tabled in Parliament.
She also called for Parliament briefs on the effectiveness of the special D11 sexual crimes unit established a year ago, suggesting Malaysia emulate international police cooperation networks like ELIPSIA, which operates across 18 countries in Latin America and Europe.
According to official 2023 data cited in the statement, child sexual crime cases have risen by 26.5%, while child pornography cases surged by an alarming 139.3%.
“These are not just numbers. They are a collective cry for immediate, systemic reform, not just well-worded laws that gather dust,“ Nurul Izzah stated.
In line with these developments, PKR announced the launch of a comprehensive grassroots campaign focusing on raising awareness against child sexual exploitation, community-led support teams, and collaborations with NGOs and educational institutions.
The campaign will include awareness counters in public spaces and direct involvement of community leaders in advocacy and monitoring efforts.
Nurul Izzah also called for easier public access to the Child Sexual Offender Registry established in 2019 and enhanced health education curricula incorporating online safety awareness in schools.
The statement concluded with a call for shared responsibility among parents, teachers, religious leaders, NGOs, and social media users to confront what she described as “a growing digital threat.”
