KUALA LUMPUR – The Malaysian Internet Crime Against Children Investigation Unit (Micac) currently operates with only 56 police officers, despite its establishment over five years ago.
Bukit Aman Sexual, Women, and Child Investigations Division (D11) chief assistant director Siti Kamsiah Hassan said despite its modest size, Micac has been instrumental in initiating collaborative efforts with international and foreign law enforcement agencies to combat online sexual crimes against children.
She emphasised that Micac’s primary objective is early detection, aiming to curb the increase in other sexual crimes attributed to child pornography addiction.
Micac, though limited in manpower, has played a pivotal role in setting the groundwork for addressing this critical issue in alignment with global law enforcement initiatives.
“(Micac is also in) collaboration with multi-agencies in capacity building in order to enhance knowledge and skills – soft and technical skills – through continuous learning, information sharing, and investigation.
“(Micac also involves the) empowerment (of) the ‘target group’ (children). This is to enhance knowledge and skills through awareness campaigns, especially for children.
“(This is) also to increase self-control and resilience by enhancing spiritual value,” she said today during a town hall meeting organised by non-governmental organisation Yayasan Chow Kit, which was aimed at strengthening online safety for children.
Also present were the prime minister’s wife and Bandar Tun Razak MP Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri, and Yayasan Chowkit founder Hartini Zainudin.
She added that there is a shortage of resources and facilities due to the unit size and that there are challenges concerning expertise since new skills and knowledge are essential in this field.
Meanwhile, Malaysia Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) community programme department head Hashimah Hashim emphasised the importance of proactiveness in addressing online safety for children.
She highlighted Section 263 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, which empowers internet service providers to take down content that poses threats or harm online, especially related to child sexual offences.
“They (internet service providers) are supposed to take down all this content. So, they have this right and they can do that. They don’t have to wait for MCMC to tell them, ‘Please take down (the offensive content)’,” she said.
Hashimah said that through the joint efforts of MCMC, PDRM, and Interpol, 408 sites related to paedophilia and child pornography were taken down from 2015 to October 2023.
She added that from January to November this year, 502 pieces of pornographic content involving child exploitation have been taken down by social media platform providers.
Last year, it was reported that police had received notifications that 93,368 internet protocol addresses were suspected of sharing child pornography. However, the lack of trained staff led to only 103 of these addresses being checked. – November 28, 2023