KUCHING: According to statistics from the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM), about 80 per cent of rape victims in the country over the past two years are minors, said Digi CyberSAFE programme manager, Philip Ling.
Ling said the statistics showed that from the over 150 rape cases recorded each year by police in 2015 and 2016, 80 per cent involved underage victims.
“Based on the statistics from PDRM’s Sexual, Women and Children Investigation Division, along with findings of the ‘National Survey 2015: CyberSAFE in Schools’ report, there was an increase of 300 per cent in Internet-initiated rape cases in Malaysia over the past five years from 2010 to 2015 with one in ten children are likely to have been asked to upload intimate photos or videos of themselves on the Internet.
“To date, a total of 68 rape cases were recorded in Malaysia. Out of that total, 80 per cent of those cases involved minors which raise our deepest and outmost concern over the matter,” he said during a press conference on Wednesday after attending a forum with students from 38 schools in the city which participated in the #SayaSayangSaya programme.
The programme was jointly organised by Digi Telecommunication Sdn Bhd, R.AGE, WOMEN:girls, and Unicef, and supported by the Federation of Reproductive Health Associations, Malaysia (FRHAM) as well as PDRM.
Ling said #SayaSayangSaya was a platform for teenagers to gain awareness on cyber-grooming and on how to protect themselves from sexual predators.
“Our objective is to give information and to get their opinion on matters concerning health and proper sex education.
“They need to learn how to protect themselves from predators and also what actions to take if they find themselves in that situation,” he said.
A total of 144 secondary students took part in #SayaSayangSaya programme here, the fifth and final series of sessions held previously in Sabah, Terengganu and Pahang, targeting 170 schools nationwide.
