Regulating Children's Safety On The Internet: A Malaysian Perspective

The recent case of pedophile, Richard Huckle has shocked the Malaysian nation on how fragile and dangerous when the Internet is being used to save abusive pictures and videos of children. Richard Huckle, a British citizen was charged in England for life sentence due to the charge for abusing Malaysian children during his visit to Malaysia. The shocking news became the front page of most local newspaper such as the Star and the New Straits Times have been actively reported on the danger of sexual pedophile based on their investigation. Hence, majority of the society feel, it is crucial to address new laws such as the sexual grooming laws to protect the vulnerable children on the Internet. In some countries such as Australia, United Kingdom and the United States of America have been addressing the issue of child protection on the Internet since the inception of the Internet in these countries. This paper aims to review the existing laws such as the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, the Penal Code and the Action Plan for Child Protection of Children on the Internet (2015) issued by the Malaysian government to examine the loopholes in the law. Secondly, it explores good governance on the Internet by the state government in curbing child abuse on the Internet. This is because at the end of the day, it takes the whole community to raise and protect children, and it should not be seen as the state responsibility alone. This paper suggests how should the Malaysian Government responsible to safety of the Internet even though it is in cyberspace.