Chemical castration for paedophiles?

A PROPOSAL to castrate child sex offenders could be brought up for debate in the Dewan Rakyat.

Deputy Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Azizah Mohd Dun said it was up to lawmakers to discuss and decide if such a punishment was warranted.

“A special task force is discussing in detail a comprehensive way to deal with the issue.

“I don’t know but chemical castration could be proposed. If all of you agree, it may be a good consideration for Parliament,” she said in reply to Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin (PKR-Bukit Katil).

The MP, in making the suggestion, said that Indonesia had announced it would chemically castrate child sex offenders.

“President Joko Widodo recently announced that chemical castration of offenders was to show their commitment in dealing with the problem. Chemical castration will help restrain sexual urges in the offenders,” he said.

Shamsul Iskandar also highlighted R.AGE’s Predator In My Phone campaign, which is pushing for fresh laws against child sex crimes in Malaysia.

R.AGE is The Star’s youth and documentary journalism platform.

“I urge all MPs to support this effort. They are calling on all Malaysians through their website to support their joint effort with the United Nations Children’s Fund to prevent paedophilia,” he said.

Predator In My Phone is an on-going video series documenting the R.AGE team’s undercover investigations into child sexual grooming in Malaysia.

R.AGE launched a separate campaign, #MPsAgainstPredators, last week to encourage the public to send their MPs social media messages asking for new laws against child sexual grooming.

To join the campaign, visit www.predator.my where you can also watch the full Predator In My Phone series.

Earlier, Azizah said a task force was looking at introducing new laws to tackle sex crimes against children which included sexual grooming.

“We are also looking at how to prevent the seduction of young children, and to make this a crime.

“This will allow action to be taken not only when a sex crime happens, but to prevent it from happening,” Azizah said in reply to Datuk Ahmad Fauzi Zahari (BN-Setiawangsa).

Ahmad Fauzi wanted to know if the ministry had identified the victims of British paedophile Richard Huckle, who was sentenced in June by a British court to 23 life sentences after pleading guilty to 71 counts of child sex offences, mainly against Malaysian children.

The MP also asked if the victims were provided with counselling and help after becoming victims of Huckle’s despicable crimes.

Azizah said the ministry had yet to identify all the victims but was working closely with the relevant agencies on this.

She added it was difficult to identify the victims as their faces were not clearly seen in the photographs.