Batu Kawan MP Kasthuri Patto said the funds had been allocated in Budget 2022 to employ 100 officers to monitor and handle sexual crimes against children, as there was a lack of manpower in the unit last year.

She said that during the last Dewan Rakyat meeting from July to August, she was told that the finance ministry had approved the intake of the 100 officers and staff in June.

She wants to know if the funds were used to deploy officers nationwide, and how many had been deployed to each state.

“If one does the math, the increase of 100 officers to D11 would see each state receiving seven officers who have the expertise and experience to handle D11 cases,” she said in a statement.

“For a state like Perlis, seven D11 officers is something it can cheer about, but is seven enough for Pahang, Sabah or Sarawak, where paedophile Alladin Lanim was nabbed?”

Yesterday, D11 principal assistant director Siti Kamsiah Hassan said the division had been receiving regular reports on sexual crimes involving child pornography.

She said it received 24 reports on sexual crimes in 2020, which increased to 35 last year. Meanwhile, 11 reports were made from January to April this year.

Kasthuri urged Siti Kamsiah to reveal the number of arrests made from the reports lodged since 2020 and how many had been convicted or discharged.

“When conviction rates are low, there is a great distrust by society in the system, which must be fixed.

“The reality on the ground is that investigating officers are the ones handling D11 cases now in addition to their day-to-day investigations instead of specially trained officers handling them,” she said.