Sexual grooming is the act of befriending and establishing an emotional connection with a child, and sometimes the family, to lower the child’s insecurity for child sexual abuse. Believe it or not, this is not illegal in Malaysia.
In order to raise awareness about child sexual exploitation through mobile chat apps (i.e. WeChat, Facebook, Whatsapp), R.AGE and Unicef started “Predator In My Phone” in June in hopes to criminalise the act of intentionally engaging a child online with the aim of sexually abusing them.
The campaign’s latest Facebook live event, #MPsAgainstPredators, will be launched at 4:45pm tomorrow (Friday, 14th October) and it allows the public to contact their MPs (Members of Parliament) and ask for anti-grooming laws to protect children from sexual grooming. Campaign ambassadors including actress Lisa Surihani, Marina Mahathir, YouTuber JinnyBoy, actress Marianne Tan, and activist Syed Azmi will also be part of the live event.
On top of that, R.AGE will launch brand new “Predator In My Phone” videos and Bahasa Malaysia versions of their previous documentaries.
Watch the promo video for #MPsAgainstPredators below:
“Predator In My Phone” is R.AGE’s original documentary series and the project sees the team posing as girls as young as 13 and 15, highlighting the dangers of online sex predators.
It was previously reported that the Malaysian police have set up a special Child Cyber Sexual Investigation unit to track down these groomers.
For more information, visit their Facebook page and #MPsAgainstPredator’s Facebook page.
Sources: #MPsAgainstPredator’s Facebook page, “Predator In My Phone” Facebook page.
