M’sia Will Be Getting A Registry of People Who Have Committed Crimes Against Children

With so many cases revolving around children’s rights recently catching the nation’s attention, the government is taking more measures to protect minors in Malaysia.

According to Malay Mail, the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development is currently working on a Child Registry in an effort to protect children more effectively.

Deputy Minister Hannah Yeoh clarified that while it’s still a work in progress, they hope that this registry will one day become a foolproof system. The registry will reportedly list out the names of those who have been convicted of committing crimes against children. 

Source: the mole

She hopes the Child Registry can also be used for the ministry to alert potential employers.

“There could be a situation where a person has several police reports against him, involving different victims at different locations. That’s an alarm. The ministry must be able to alert employers and parents who want to hire that person.”

However, Hannah Yeoh admits that keeping a list is not enough to keep such individuals away from children, as there are many who have committed such crimes but have not yet been convicted, resulting in their names not being on the list. She explained to the daily,

“Besides data from the court, we also want to have a side file of data from the police ― names of those who have had too many police reports lodged against them, where there is a pattern, those who were investigated but not charged.”

“With the recent number of cases involving children as victims, no matter what rights we are dealing with ― it can’t be at the expense of a child’s right. For us, the priority is the child’s safety and not the adult who is looking for a job.”

Source: ert. Gr

Human rights groups have also pointed out that it is unfair to list the names of those who have had police reports against them but have not been charged with anything.

“That is why for the first phase we can only do [a list of] those with convictions. Those convicted are the only ones who will be listed in the registry, but it has to be a complete list.”

“At some point, I would think that for it to be foolproof, those who are undergoing court trial should also be included as the trial may go on for few years and they could be out on bail and having access to children.”

Sometime in the near future, Hannah Yeoh hopes that it would be made compulsory to use the registry to screen those who apply for jobs in specific sectors, like in education for example. 

“If you are a school hiring teachers, the checks must be made compulsory and it should not just be restricted to schools ― it must be broadened to any person dealing with children.”

Source: work it daily

She added that the Ministry is also looking into the “working with children check” screening method used in a number of countries, where anyone intending to work with children should be screened and issued with proof of being screened.

Many countries have registries similar to this, like the United States’ National Sex Offender Registry segregated by state, where anyone can search the names of specific offenders for screening purposes.

What are your thoughts on this registry? Do you think it will be effective? Let us know in the comments below!

Also read: Report: More Malaysian Pedophiles Are Now Travelling Abroad For Sex