Wanita MCA chief wants sex offenders registry implemented quickly

Datuk Heng Seai Kie - File pix

KUALA LUMPUR: Laws to protect children must be implemented fast.

Wanita MCA chief Datuk Heng Seai Kie said the setting up of a sex offenders registry must be expedited, suggesting that the names of convicted paedophiles and rapists be exposed on the police website, social media, local councils and through news organisations.

Legislative reforms in this area should include charging Malaysian citizens over committing offences abroad and allowing them to be tried a second time locally (double jeopardy), providing mandatory jail time for possessing and accessing child pornography, and disallowing computer and Internet access to sex offenders for a minimum period of time, she added.

Heng said the definition of rape should include the insertion of an object into any orifice of the human anatomy – as long as there is coerced intrusion – and that the definition be made gender neutral to include offences against males.

“We also call on all crime prevention and child welfare authorities to disseminate their information across borders immediately after confirmation is obtained that a suspected paedophile has travelled abroad,” Heng added in a statement yesterday.

In Sungai Besar, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Nancy Shukri said necessary amendments were being made to strengthen laws related to the protection of children.

“I know there is progress in making amendments to laws relating to children,” said Nancy.

In Putrajaya, the Health Minis-try “to some extent” knows the identity of paedophile Richard Huckle’s victims and is considering sending child psychologists to assess their state of mind.

“It will be done in a way that it will not traumatise the children” said minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam.

In a related development, the Federal CID Director Comm Datuk Seri Mohmad Salleh said police, with the assistance of the National Crime Agency and Women, Family and Community Development Ministry, would also be reaching out to Huckle’s victims.