Implementation of children-friendly digitised reporting platform likely by 2024, says Azalina

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 20 — The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said said today the government is in the midst of working on a digitised reporting system that is child-friendly.

She said more details on the implementation of the child-friendly reporting platform will be announced in 2024.

“Right now the definition of reporting always goes to police reporting — to go to any police station nearby make a report — and that becomes quite a tricky situation whereby the offence or perpetrator is outside of the jurisdiction.

“In some of the countries abroad, they have a system whereby they can capture the complaint online. I think with the more fulfilling Malaysian Children’s Commission, we will be able to come out with a better system so that there will be less underreporting,” Azalina told a news conference after visiting the World Children’s Day booth setup by the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) at the Parliament building here,

She also highlighted that one of the biggest challenges is the issue of fear of reporting, and that it happens to not only girls but boys.

“So we hope that the Child Commissioner’s office is able to come up with a certain structure and work with all the other relevant agencies when it comes to children’s voices, especially with reference to voices of concern.

“As you know under Section 19 [of Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017] everybody has a duty to report. So we also want those who feel maybe more afraid to come personally [to report] can do it online.

“So that we can make sure that children know that they can reach a system that will not discriminate against them for coming out to report. We want the children to feel safe that they can report without fear or favour, that’s our objective. How we’re going to do it? In 2024,” she added.

When asked about the tabling of the Malaysian Children Commission (MCC) Bill, Azalina said it should be tabled by the end of this Parliament session.

“Anyway we need to amend the Suhakam Act to give the Children’s Commissioner to the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia [Dr Farah Nini Dusuki] more legitimacy so that the MCC can move more completely with reference to overlapping ministries agencies in the government departments.

“[The tabling of Bill] should be this year, we will hopefully table it for the first reading in this session,” she said.