Bid to get MPs to back laws against child sexual crimes

PETALING JAYA: With two weeks to the next Parliament session, the R.AGE team is stepping up its efforts to get all 222 MPs to support new laws against child sexual crimes.

On Wednesday, the team secured support from 25 MPs after spending over three hours on the phone with them.

A new Child Sexual Crimes Bill is set to be tabled next month.

R.AGE, The Star’s documentary journalism team, has been pushing for it since the launch of its Predator In My Phone campaign in June last year.

“We’ve been working with some wonderful NGOs and police officers to protect children, and this law will be a huge boost to their work,” said R.AGE journalist and Predator project leader Samantha Chow.

At press time, 60 MPs have pledged their support for the new laws, including many who publicly promoted the campaign with the #MPsAgainstPredators hashtag.

“We want to get all MPs from both sides of the House to publicly support the new laws because that will send a strong message to the people that our lawmakers are serious about stamping out child sexual crimes,” said Chow.

Putatan MP Datuk Dr Marcus Mojigoh, who was one of the 25 who pledged his support on Wednesday, said child sexual crimes has given the country a bad name.

“There are no words to describe these perpetrators. They are animals, sick people, and we need to put them in jail,” he said.

Serdang MP Dr Ong Kian Ming said improved laws could help protect marginalised groups like those taken advantage of by paedophile Richard Huckle.

To see the updated list of MPs who support the campaign, go to www.predator.my.