A 40-year-old man was sentenced to a fine of RM5,000 after pleading guilty to accessing child pornography on social media.
According to a report by Harian Metro, Mohamad Reizal Dagang, who is a restaurant assistant, was also ordered to be jailed for 4 months should he fail to pay the RM5,000 fine.
He was charged under Section 10 of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act (AKKSTKK) 2017, which comes with imprisonment of up to 5 years or a fine not exceeding RM10,000, or both, if convicted.
This comes after the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) tracked down the ‘admin’ of a Facebook group and made a report to the police.
Mohamad Reizal Dagang acted as the group’s administrator, giving permission to those who wanted to join the group and share child pornography. He, too, had uploaded child pornography in the form of pictures and videos, including those involving kids in their school uniforms.
Only an RM5,000 fine?
Many were shocked by the verdict. Among them is netizen, Roman Akramovich, who took to his X account to praise the authorities for making the arrest but called for a harsher punishment.
“This guy was fined RM5,000 on the offence of being the administrator to a child pornography group on Facebook. I think this may be the first time a pornography group administrator was arrested,”
“Congratulations, Fahmi Fadzil (Communications Minister), keep up the good work. If it’s possible, make the punishment more severe. RM5,000 is too light,” he wrote.
Others followed suit.
“Malaysia, please do better. Just an RM5,000 fine? What if this guy has a lot of money? He can easily pay off his fine.”
“If it’s in the UK, he can be jailed for tens of years. Owning child pornography is a huge offence. Malaysia’s laws are so weak, no wonder paedophiles are ‘nesting’ here.”
“Just RM5,000? Imagine how many people he has enabled with his content.”
“Just RM5,000? He’ll pay it off and do it again.”
What do you think of the RM5,000 fine imposed on the administrator of the child pornography Facebook group? Do feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section.
