KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 31 – Between 2018 and August 31, 2023, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) blocked 6,997 websites that were obscene or pornographic in nature, said the Ministry of Communications and Digital (KKD) in a parliamentary reply yesterday.
“Based on complaints from the public and our monitoring activities, MCMC will take action from time to time by blocking websites that contain elements of obscenity or pornography,” said minister Fahmi Fadzil in his written reply.
He was responding to a question by Setiu MP Shahrizukirnain Abdul Kadir who asked the minister to state the “statistics for teenagers who use unnatural sex applications and the extent of cross ministerial cooperation in addressing the issue of free sex using online applications”.
“The ministry does not have statistics on teenagers using unnatural sex applications or conducting immoral activities online as those come under the purview of the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM),” said Fahmi.
“However, the MCMC is always ready to offer technical assistance related to investigations, supply of information, forensic digital analysis, as well as take action to block or restrict, based on requests from authorities to address cases of online pornography.”
In terms of cross cooperation in addressing the problem, the minister said KKD has always worked in cooperation with other ministries to advocate and raise awareness on efforts to protect teenagers when it comes to the issue of free sex through online applications.
Through collaborations with the Ministry of Women, Family and Social Development and the Ministry of Health, a number of modules and training programmes on the topic of protection for teenagers from online threats have been developed.
Some of these include the Family and Child Safety Education Module (PEKA), Smart Start 2.0 Pre-marriage Module with the National Population and Family Development Board (LPPKN), and the Program Ekspresi Anak Remaja Lestari (PEARL), which is aimed at improving resilience skills among adolescents to avoid risky behaviours.
KKD has also approached teachers and students, as well as parents, through the Klik Dengan Bijak (KDB) and MIV – Malaysia ICT Volunteer programmes, which provides skills training to youth protectors.
“Since its inception in 2016, the MIC programme has trained 2,814 MIV volunteer teachers among primary and secondary school teachers involving 2,282 schools throughout the country,” said the minister.
He added that MCMC has worked with UNICEF to organise seminars on protection for children and teenagers online for academics, media practitioners and stakeholders.
Additionally, to empower parents and guardians in supervising the use of communication facilities among their children, MCMC has worked together with five telecommunication suppliers in the country including CelcomDigi, UMobile, Maxis, Telekom Malaysia, and TIME to provide Parental Control Tools.
