KUALA LUMPUR, June 24 – The children’s commissioner of the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam), Farah Nini Dusuki, said she views seriously the dissemination of content involving girls by a Facebook page titled Grup Budak-budak Sekolah Rendah (Group of Primary School Children), which subsequently triggered sexual and obscene comments from social media users.
“The action is not only immoral, but can be described as a form of child exploitation in the digital space,” she said in a statement.
Farah commended the actions of social media influencer Wee Yun Nee or Mekyun, who has filed a police report demanding an investigation into the disgusting and sexually harassing comments made against children.
“This action should be seen as an example of civic responsibility in addressing online sexual crimes.”
She emphasised that children have the right to live and develop in a safe environment, including in cyberspace.
“As enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), in particular Article 34, states are obliged to protect children from all forms of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse.
“This includes taking appropriate measures to prevent a child from participating in or being forced into any sexual activity, exploiting a child for prostitution or other sexual practices, and exploiting a child in obscene or pornographic material.
“Malaysia as a party to the UNCRC has a moral and legal obligation to ensure that any form of sexual exploitation of children, including in cyberspace, is prevented and firmly addressed.”
Farah said exposing children to sexualised content or comments is a serious violation of their human rights, and may be investigated under:
- Section 10, Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017, regarding accessing child sexual abuse material, for which the perpetrator can be imprisoned for a term not exceeding five years or fined not exceeding ten thousand ringgit or both.
- Section 211, Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, relating to the prohibition of providing obscene content, whereby the perpetrator may be fined not exceeding fifty thousand ringgit or imprisoned for a period not exceeding one year or both.
- Section 292, Penal Code, for the offence of distributing obscene content, for which the perpetrator can be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years or with a fine or with both.
The children’s commissioner urged the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) to conduct a detailed investigation into all parties involved, including the administrators of the Facebook page and the users who had made sexually harassing comments towards children.
She also called on the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to act more firmly and proactively in monitoring, blocking and taking action on accounts and content that contribute to the culture of child sexualisation.
“The MCMC should also enforce the Online Safety Act 2024 against application service providers, in this case, Facebook (service provider), so that the service provider establishes a mechanism to protect the online safety of child users so that any content in the form of child sexual abuse material cannot be accessed by its users.”
Finally, Farah said the protection of children, including in cyberspace, is a collective responsibility.
“Parents, educators, digital platform operators, policymakers and society as a whole need to work together to ensure that this country’s digital space is free from exploitation, harassment and abuse of children,” she continued.
“All parties are urged to be more sensitive and act immediately when faced with suspicious content or content that has the potential to degrade children.”
