“We must educate the general public, especially the young people, of the dangers of online access and the existence of the ‘dark web’ which is used by paedophiles to get in touch with children or teenagers,” she said.
Azalina said youngsters should know what to do and not to do.
“Whether you call it sex education or call it media communication strategy, you must be able to inform the internet users out there, especially youngsters, on what they can and cannot do with regard to certain conduct,” she told reporters after the second Task Force meeting on sexual crime.
The task force was set up in August after the criminal activities of British national Richard Huckle came to light. He was arrested by Britain’s National Crime Agency after a tip-off from Australian police and was later convicted of 71 counts of serious sexual assaults against children while posing as a teacher, photographer and devout Christian in Malaysia.
Huckle was described as Britain’s worst ever paedophile by both the media and the prosecution team, despite being only 28 years old at the time of his arrest. In June, he was given 22 life sentences with a minimum prison term of 25 years before being eligible to apply for parole.
He was one of those who used the ‘dark web’ – that part of the internet that is out of sight and beyond the reach of common internet users – for nefarious and illegal activities.
Azalina, who is Pengerang MP, said there must be a mind shift among the younger generation on the use of social media.
However, she said, it was not possible for laws to cover the entire spectrum of social media and, therefore, everyone had a part to play.”
The minister in charge of Parliament said parents, teachers and society must be concerned about the possibility of abuse in the social media world.
For years, NGOs have been pushing for sex education in Malaysia, but to no avail. This year, the Education Ministry said it would introduce sex education in schools, but only to students who had reached the age of 16. This has drawn flak from experts who want the topic to be introduced to children at a younger age.
Azalina said many teenagers were sending pictures through Snapchat, an app that allows people to snap photos and send them privately to one person or several people at a time. She said some of these pictures ended up in the ‘dark web’.
“Teenagers need to be made aware that these pictures could be sent to several unsavory websites and could have serious repercussions.”
An investigation by BBC News recently indicated that tens of thousands of paedophiles were using the ‘dark web’ to trade images of sex abuse and to lure teenagers into the sex trade.