All for child safety

Azalina to push through new law on child sex crimes.

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KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Azalina Othman is determined to push through a new law against child sexual abuse and has set herself an ambitious deadline.

She said the way evidence was collected, how victims were handled and the burden of proof in such cases needed to be reviewed.

“You can make thousands of police reports but if you can’t convict, it doesn’t mean anything,” said the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department.

She has tasked herself with pushing the new law through next month when Parliament sits.

“We’re looking at the first draft and I still have to bring it to the task force, and then to the Cabinet for approval,” she said.

Azalina heads the Government’s new sexual crimes task force, set up after the Richard Huckle case and the launch of R.AGE’s Predator In My Phone documentary series which exposed multiple child sex predators through sting operations.

The task force is exploring the possibility of creating an Act that focuses entirely on sexual crimes against children.

“But I’m not the only one who makes the decision so I hope R.AGE can lobby ministers to be very aggressive in this campaign,” Azalina said.

She also urged the lawmakers to set aside political differences to expedite the passing of the new law.

“No matter our politics, we must be united when it comes to children and sexual assault,” she said.

Azalina said enacting a new law was just one battle in the war against child sexual crimes – the other stakeholders and society need to do their part as well.

“And the most important thing is to ask young people: how can you make sure you don’t fall victim to this crime?”

R.AGE has been highlighting the need for a new law on child sexual grooming (a common practice by online sex predators to gain the trust of a potential victim) since the Predator In My Phone series was launched. Find out more about the campaign at rage.com.my/predator.