“The hope is to appoint three commissioners,” Azalina said at the International Symposium on the Empowerment of Children’s Commission here today.
“So far, only Farah has been delegated and two more will be appointed,” she added, referring to Farah Nini Dusuki, a senior lecturer at Universiti Malaya’s law faculty who was appointed for a three-year term.
“The objective before we appoint (another commissioner) is to see if Suhakam’s Office of the Children’s Commissioner (OCC) can play a more focused role because we are starting with more emphasis on the legal aspect,” Azalina said.
She also said the need for the OCC to be established at the state level would be assessed as issues regarding children cannot be centralised.
The Pengerang MP also said that the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017 would be reviewed for possible amendments next year.
“We are at the initial stages of amending the act, but I cannot deny that the provision for grooming (Section 792) we did in 2017 may not comply with the current situation.
“The challenges are greater with technology, but nevertheless, I still believe that we can use it positively to assist us in these changes. So we have to understand what’s happening out there and have a law that can cover such challenges,” she said.
Separately, she said a programme had been carried out with teachers under Section 19 of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017 to educate them about the reporting mechanism for sexual offences and raise awareness about under-reporting.
“When we are dealing with schools, they have to understand that there is a law under Section 19 that protects them. And if they don’t report, under-reporting is an offence. So we’re starting with that,” she said.
In January, Azalina said the government was exploring ways to expand the scope of protection under the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017 to encompass situations in which violations are committed against Malaysian children by individuals overseas.
Azalina said under the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017, online child sexual abuse encompassed various offences with penalties ranging from five to 30 years’ imprisonment, and whipping.
She said recent amendments had addressed new forms of online child sexual abuse, extending legal jurisdiction to prosecute Malaysians who commit such offences abroad.