KUALA LUMPUR, June 10 ― Agencies under the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry were looking to update their parental education programmes and standard operating procedures in light of the Richard Huckle case.

Deputy Minister Datuk Azizah Mohd Dun today said agencies like the National Population and Family Development Board (LPPKN) have already begun to review its modules for parenting.

“As I've said, this is a wake up call. When this information came out, LPPKN, along with JKM (Welfare Department) and departments involving children are looking into forming and changing their courses and SOPs to better spread awareness, particularly to parents,” she told reporters at the LPPKN 50th anniversary event.

LPPKN director-general Datuk Dr Siti Norlasiah Ismail said among the modules already being updated by the agency was its “Belaian Kasih” module that teaches parents to care for children under the age of 12.

She said discussions on the module that has not been updated since 1995 has been ongoing with Unicef on how best to improve it as violence against children cases have become more prominent even before the Huckle case.

“Even before (the Huckle case), we have seen many cases of children, be it in Malaysia or overseas, being taken advantage of by adults. So based on this, we have wanted to add to the aspects of child safety, such as what happened in these cases, as well as cyber threats,” she said.

She said the updated module will include educating parents  on how to teach their children about what is safe and unsafe touching.

She added that LPPKN targets these programmes at communities that are identified as being at risk of such incidences, as well as community colleges among others.

“Belaian Kasih is regarding the care of very young children, and this education is the missing gap that leads to negligence by parents, abuse, and susceptibility to being groomed over the internet,” Siti Norlasiah added.