“The Cabinet in principle approved the paper yesterday,” said Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Azalina Othman Said in a statement today.

She also thanked the prime minister for establishing a Sexual Crimes Task Force to look into the growing need for stronger laws to protect children from sex predators.

The paper, among others, includes policy considerations with regard to the establishment of a standalone Child Sexual Crimes Act.

“Among the policy considerations are expanding the application of existing penal laws, such as rape, incest, abuse of position of trust and sexual assault, and creating third party obligation to report to the relevant authority.

“The Cabinet paper also details that the proposed Act will introduce new offences against children, namely child grooming and child pornography.

“The proposed Act has given paramount consideration on the evidence of (the) child and establishment of a special court to deal with child sexual offenders.”

She said the policy decision on the paper would be forwarded to the Attorney-General’s Chambers for drafting of the final Act, which would be presented in the Cabinet for approval before it is tabled to the Parliament in the next sitting.

“In the meantime, more discussions are being planned and engagements are ongoing with stakeholders, including NGOs, to fine tune the much-awaited Child Sexual Crimes Act before it comes into force,” she said.