The head of Ikram’s Women’s wing, Che Asmah Ibrahim, said this when talking about the organisation’s upcoming campaign called “LoveMySelf” which runs from July to October.
Che Asmah said the catalyst for the campaign was Ikram’s concern over the accessibility of pornography and the lack of awareness on matters relating to child sexual abuse among both children and adults alike.
“From the surveys that we conducted among schoolchildren during awareness programmes, we found that more than 50% of the schoolchildren have been exposed to pornography from as early as nine years old,” she told FMT.
Che Asmah said many were still unaware of the dangers of pornography and the impact it had on people who were “addicted” to it.
In a previous interview with FMT, counselling expert Ronald Lee from the Centre for Psychological and Counselling services, said addiction to pornography was a recognised medical condition which could affect a person’s life to the point where they neglected loved ones, school or work.
In recent times, concerns have been raised over the ease of accessing pornography online, especially since it can even be viewed on smartphones and tablets.
The government has been actively blocking pornographic websites since the establishment of the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC). In 2015, it was reported that MCMC had barred access to more than 1,000 sites.
Che Asmah said in Ikram’s series of talks, people had shared about being touched inappropriately during their childhood, adding that these could lead to even more serious incidences of sexual abuse.
“This is a serious issue but there is still a lot of complacency in our society with people thinking it won’t happen to them.
“But the reality is that every child should be aware that even those close to them can do harm to them, including family members.”
Che Asmah said there is a need to raise that awareness and teach children and parents what kind of physical contact with adults is right and wrong or acceptable, how to handle a situation when a child has been sexually abused and who they can talk to about it.
She added that support and monitoring systems, such as a sex offender registry, need to be set up.
Calls for a sex offender registry were renewed earlier this year, after reports confirmed the return of convicted serial rapist Selva Kumar Subbiah to Malaysia in February after serving a 24-year jail sentence in Canada.
Earlier it was reported that Ikram members who had received training from experts are visiting schools to teach children how to recognise and guard against paedophiles.
So far, Ikram members have visited 10 to 15 schools in the rural areas of Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang.
Ikram is also working with MCMC to develop several applications to help parents and teachers monitor what children do online.
Structured approach needed
Child rights activist Madeleine Yong agreed that awareness is low. She said while it is understandable that more organisations want to run outreach programmes for children, this needs to be done in a structured manner.
Yong, who founded Protect and Save The Children (PS The Children), an NGO which combats sexual abuse against children, said programmes on the prevention of child sexual abuse must be driven by evidence-based methods.
“Overseas, tried and tested methods have been developed where kids are not only talked to but they are also taught skills on relaying information to adults and improving their self-esteem.
“These methods are designed to encourage children to open up about the abuse they’ve suffered. This is what we want, we don’t want to scare them off or make them paranoid about interacting with adults.”
Yong said programmes to raise awareness on preventing child sexual abuse need to be ramped up, adding that the government should spearhead this effort by setting up a body to carry out such programmes.
This way, she said, the programmes will be standardised, fact-driven and evidence-based.
“This isn’t a piecemeal process. Understandably, everyone wants to do their part, but ideally it needs to be structured and supported by a curriculum, support systems, monitoring procedures and training of facilitators and teachers.”
She said this was the only way to create a holistic system where children and adults are not only educated on child sexual abuse, but also have access to a quick and effective reporting system.
“Facilitators of such awareness programmes and teachers have to be properly trained. When we teach children how to protect themselves, we need to learn how to handle disclosure,” Yong said.
She also voiced concern that many people, from family members, to teachers and even law enforcement officers, aren’t properly trained to handle disclosures from children who have been assaulted.
A Reuters report last year said 12,987 cases of child sexual abuse were reported in Malaysia between January 2012 and July 2016. Charges were filed for 2,189 cases, resulting in 140 convictions.