KUALA LUMPUR: Police in Malaysia have recorded a significant rise in sexual crimes against children, including rape, grooming and sexual extortion. This has been brought on by the rapid growth of the Internet and the easy accessibility we now enjoy, with practically every child having a smartphone or device at hand.
What is more, the rise in sexual crimes against children is not gender-specific, with a growing trend of boys being targeted as well.
With such crimes on the rise, the police force set up a new, specially trained unit in February.
Federal Sexual, Women and Children Crime Investigation Division (D11) principal assistant director Assistant Commissioner Siti Kamsiah Hassan said the Malaysia Internet Crimes Against Children (Micac) would probe into sexual crimes and offences committed against children using the Internet as a medium.
"What are Internet crimes against children? The definition can vary, but in the department's context, it is when a child is made to be a sexual victim via the Internet, whether it involves a sexual act, grooming, or being coaxed to provide explicit materials," she told the New Straits Times.
She said things normally started when a stranger communicated with a minor online, and once he or she had gained the victim's trust, the perpetrator would go on to ask for nude pictures or engage in video calls.
This, said Siti Kamsiah, might shift into the grooming phase before they actually arrange to meet.
"All this is already an offence." The abuser does not have to meet the child or commit any sexual act with him or her to be arrested.
"Communicating in a sexual manner online and requesting photos in a compromising position alone are sufficient for him or her to be charged," she said.
Although child sexual exploitation mostly involved young female children, Siti Kamsiah said there was a new, growing trend involving young boys as well.
"Recently, online sexual crimes against young boys seem to be on the rise, with the suspects also mostly being male. Sexual crimes against children are no longer limited to female children like in those days."
She said another tactic used by online predators was to instil a sense of belonging to make the child feel special and to find a common interest to make a topic of discussion between the two.
"For instance, K-pop. The perpetrators will use this to slowly gain the child's trust through a series of interactions before he goes on to ask for explicit personal materials on the Internet.
"It will normally start with a photograph, then video calls (where he asks the child to undress), which he will secretly record to be used against them (as a threat) when the child no longer wants to engage in such acts with the perpetrator."
Siti Kamsiah said materials gathered via online chats, recorded sexual materials and video calls were known among investigators as child sexual abuse materials (CSAM).
She said those who were most vulnerable were mostly under the age of 10.
"This is because children under 10 have the minimum ability to understand or comprehend any action in a mature manner. They are also unable to understand their actions and the repercussions."
Siti Kamsiah said paedophilia was not prevalent in Malaysia, but the rise in such cases had set off alarm bells and worried the authorities.
With children as young as 5 having access to the Internet via smart gadgets and such crimes being transborder, it would take a lot to put an end to the scourge.
"For us to eradicate such crimes individually is not possible due to the constraints of technology, training and manpower.
"Micac is a very new unit, and we have only about 10 members at present," said Siti Kamsiah.
She said as "newbies", they were still very much dependent on information and knowledge- sharing with counterparts from more advanced countries in curbing Internet crimes against children.
Countries like those in the West, she said, were more familiar with online sexual crimes involving children because they began dealing with them much earlier.
"Over the years, these countries have mastered and advanced in the latest technology to identify sexual crimes against children quickly.
"Malaysian police have good collaboration with our counterparts in the United States, Australia, Canada and others, especially in terms of sharing information and raising red flags on child sexual materials.
"Any time someone using a Malaysian IP (Internet protocol) address accesses child pornography on the Internet, enforcement agencies abroad will be alerted.
"Even if the person uses encryption to upload or access such CSAM materials on the Internet, police are still able to track them.
"We have done it before. There was this case where a man uploaded photos and videos of him touching a child's private parts and doing things that he was not supposed to on a website.
"This had been going on for some time, and the enforcement agency in the US was flagged about his regular posts.
"They immediately alerted Micac and provided us with the IP address. We did our own investigations with the help of the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission and traced the IP to a house in Johor."
During interrogation, the suspect admitted that he recorded himself performing the sexual acts on his 7-year-old niece.
"The girl was 13 years old by then, but we still managed to charge him for his offences.
"In these sorts of cases, the real challenge is when we need to interview the victims about what happened and get them to recollect what the suspects had done to them."
She said this was because getting a victim to recall such a traumatising experience was not easy and could have long-lasting effects on their mental health.
"Children who have been victims of child sexual exploitation must be given proper counselling and medical treatment by professionals.
"The recovery process is long, and victims must receive the necessary support and encouragement from those around them. Otherwise, there is a high chance that the victims themselves would become addicted to sexual activities."
