Ministry launches sexual predation awareness campaign

PUTRAJAYA: The Women, Family and Community Development Ministry yesterday launched a sexual predation awareness campaign via digital medium YouTube.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said the campaign is the government’s latest effort to reduce statistics of children falling prey to paedophiles.

The one-minute video targetting 150,000 children in the country is in the form of an advertisement.

Speaking at the launch of the campaign here, Dr Wan Azizah, who is also Women, Family and Community Development Minister stressed that knowledge and awareness were essential for children to prevent themselves from becoming sexual victims.

She said the video would educate the target group on identifying sexual predatory behaviour.

Also present at the function was deputy minister Hannah Yeoh.

The video was created jointly by the ministry and non-governmental organisation Malaysians Against Pornography, which had so far produced four to five similar awareness videos with the cooperation of Google, disclosed Dr Wan Azizah.

She noted that it had become the trend for parents to allow their children to watch YouTube not only as a source for learning but also interactive education.

“However, parents must monitor their children’s screen time and the ministry suggests no screen time, or limited access to the internet for children below two years old,” she said.

Meanwhile, Yeoh told reporters when met that the ministry supported the call by Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO) for the private sector to introduce paternity leave of at least seven days.

She said parenting required both father and mother to play a role. — Bernama