Almost 10,000 cases of child sex crimes recorded between 2013 and 2016

KUALA LUMPUR: Police recorded almost 10,000 cases of children falling victim to some type of sex crime between 2013 and this year.
"These include about 6,200 cases involving child rape, 834 cases involving child incest, and 2,893 cases involving child outrage of modesty," Bukit Aman Sexual, Women and Child investigation Division (D11) investigation unit head DSP Tan Gee Soon said at a seminar at the Royal Malaysia Police College in Cheras, here, today.
The seminar titled "Sexual Crime Prevention Series 3: Protect Children from Paedophiles" was organised by the Malaysian Crime Prevention Foundation (MCPF) and police and was attended by about 500 participants comprising police personnel, teachers, MCPF members, NGOs and hospital personnel.
"The shocking fact is that 91% of the perpetrators were known to the victims," she said, adding that 50.2% of the victims were in the 13-15 age group.
She said police investigations also found that most victims befriended offenders via social media, with 184 such cases reported in 2015.
Earlier, City police chief Commissioner Datuk Amar Singh warned that the number of people accessing child pornography was alarming and worrying.
"There needs to be awareness on sexual crimes against children because neglecting that would make it difficult to gauge the seriousness of the situation," he said.
Amar said some 500 cases involving children being victims of crime were reported in the first 10 months of this year, with a few involving paedophiles.
Amar revealed that the police have the right skills and programme to observe internet traffic on websites that promote child pornography within the country, courtesy of technology sharing between the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and police.
"Our checks found a sizeable number of individuals within the country logging into child porn websites and there is a high internet traffic when we monitor the program," he said.
When asked to provide the exact figures of visitors, Amar declined to elaborate.
"I am not worried about the small number of parents not coming forward to lodge a report, but I am more concerned that they are not aware of such acts being forced upon their children," he said.
He pointed out that children were manipulated by people they trust and it should not be taken lightly.
"Last year, Noor Din Chaw Fooi, 63, abused his status as a fatherly figure to groom many children, mostly underage boys, before exploiting them for sex," he said.
Malaysian Crime Prevention Foundation (MCPF) senior vice-chairman Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye said although there were no exact figures to determine the number of paedophilia cases, he insisted a law must be enacted to address the issue.
"Presently there are no specific anti-grooming laws for such an offence," he said.