MP SPEAKS | I refer to the statement made by ACP Siti Kamsiah Hassan, principal assistant director of the Royal Malaysian Police’s Sexual, Women, and Child Investigation Division (D11), that sexual crimes involving children are on an increasing trend.
Last October, Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz stated during the tabling of Budget 2022 that RM13 million had been allocated to D11 to employ another 100 officers tasked to monitor and handle sexual crimes against children as there was a great deficiency in that division.
In May this year, Siti Kamsiah said that the RM13 million has not yet been allocated for her division in spite of paperwork submitted to the government in March. I had then called for the Finance Ministry to keep its word and release the funds without further delay, and not pay mere lip service if they are indeed serious about fighting sexual crimes against children.
Yesterday, Siti Kamsiah stated that “in 2020, the division received 24 reports on sexual crimes which were investigated under Section 509 of the Penal Code, and last year the number increased to 35, and in 2022 a total of 11 reports were received between January and April”.
My question to Siti Kamsiah is how many arrests had been made out of the 24, 35, and 11 cases from 2020 until now, how many had been convicted in court and how many discharges not amounting to acquittal (DNAA) cases have been recorded? How many cases were thrown out because of the lack of evidence or because the evidence collected could not be used in court?
When conviction rates are low, there is a great distrust of society in the system and the system must be fixed.
What happened to RM13m?
I had asked the Home Ministry in the last Parliament session about the status of the RM13 million allocation and what is the government’s strategy to invest in manpower, resources, infrastructure, and technology to combat online sexual crimes in Malaysia as used by Australia and the United Kingdom.
The reply I received stated that the intake of 100 officers and staff has been approved on June 1, 2022, through a letter from the Finance Ministry dated June 3, 2022.
While I welcome this move, there seem to be more questions now for D11, the police, and the Home Ministry on this.
The reality on the ground is that, instead of specially trained officers, investigating officers (IO) are now the ones handling D11 cases in addition to their day-to-day probes.
If one does the math, with the increase of 100 officers handling D11 cases, each state is to receive seven officers who have expertise and experience to handle such cases.
For a state like Perlis, getting seven D11 officers is something it can cheer about, but is it enough for Pahang, Sabah, and Sarawak, where paedophile Alladin Lanim was nabbed? Is it enough for other states?
My question to the home minister is has the RM13 million been utilised to deploy officers with skills, knowledge, and experience in handling D11 cases to all 14 states and territories in Malaysia?
If yes, I expect a statement by the ministry to clarify how many have been deployed to each state. If not, has it been used to cushion the promotions within Bukit Aman?
Is RM13 million sufficient for employing 100 officers, to purchase vehicles, equipment and office fixtures including an “anatomy doll” with a recorder? If not, where will the cut be?
Infrastructure issues
The reply also stated that awareness campaigns have been carried out in 12 states and territories to date and work is on the way for other states in the country, including Penang. As an MP from Penang, I would like to know where, when, and what awareness campaigns were organised by the police.
While I am a firm believer in intra and inter-ministry, agency or international partnerships in achieving salient solutions, a question arises if the Malaysian Internet Crimes Against Children (Micac) have its own data on child sexual crimes in Malaysia. It would be fatal if our own unit did not have its own data and had to depend on transboundary information.
According to my parliamentary answer, Micac would be expanded in all states or contingents. Only 14 offices for Micac all over the country? Is that good value for money and would services match the infrastructure?
As Micac’s jurisdiction covers online sexual crimes, would it not be logical to have a single properly functioning Micac headquarters and a reporting system by state contingents, or even district police stations, through D11 officers or officers of other ranks to report directly to them?
What the government needs to do is employ more staff who are true experts in online wizardry to hack, break, monitor, and stalk child sexual crime offenders online or on the dark web instead of setting up another office in each state.
I am a fierce advocate of protecting the right of children and preventing, at all costs, any child from being exposed to the dangers of sexual crimes online. I will support all efforts by the government to combat child sexual violence if D11, the police, the Home Ministry and the government are transparent about the financial expenditures of the unit.
This report must be tabled in Parliament for the scrutiny of all members of Parliament and D11 must also arrange a briefing for all MPs in the coming Parliament sitting on their efforts to combat child sexual crimes online so we can all be part of the solution instead of the problem.
KASTHURI PATTO is Batu Kawan MP.
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