KUCHING: Raising sexual awareness should not only be carried out for the children but also the adults.
In making the call for more efforts to raise consciousness on sexual abuse, a former senior lecturer at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) Professor Dr Hew Cheng Sim said it was imperative to educate adults on the needs to change their dismissive attitudes and disbelief when their children speak up on the abuse that they might have faced.
“This topic is important for both children and adults.
“Adults need to be taught to believe and listen to their children if they report of any adult touching them inappropriately,” she said when contacted by New Sarawak Tribune yesterday.
She further lauded the action taken by the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry to continue its strategic plan to produce videos on sexual awareness for children via online platforms.
“It’s laudable. Consciousness in raising the awareness for children on this topic is very important,” she added.
Emphasising the need to effectively address the issue, Hew suggested that discussions be organised while the videos were being shown in class.
“To ensure that the message is reachable at various platforms, the video must be produced to suit the intended platform. Because not everyone knows of the video’s existence on YouTube,” she added.
Hew’s view to extend communication strategic plan was echoed by Sarawak Women for Women Society (SWWS) president Margaret Bedus.
On the empowerment activities by SWWS, Margaret said training on protecting children from social abuse in Sarawak could foster self-actualisation through a social programme such as Children Personal Safety programme.
“In the past few years, SWWS has been collaborating with the State Education Department to conduct workshops for teachers in tackling and handling child sexual abuse.
“It is a two-day training for teachers,” she added.
Margaret also pointed out that working with interfaith groups was prevalent to address the issue.
“We hope that such efforts could be extended to all primary schools as well as its usage to be monitored so that everyone will be more aware of the issue,” she said.
On Jan 7, Deputy Women, Family and Community Development Minister Hannah Yeoh revealed that the federal government would continue to produce videos on sexual awareness for children through online platforms.
Together with non-governmental organisations (NGO), this initiative would address the issue, particularly among youth by exposing them to proper ways of asking for help if they were the victims.
