By Srividhya Ganapathy
My fellow child rights activists and I ushered in World Human Rights Day on 10 December with a heavy heart, as we watched new amendments being rushed through Parliament that will effectively erode the inroads we have made in children’s protection and freedom of expression.
The new laws being proposed include a new Online Safety Bill and various amendments to the Penal Code and the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 (CMA).
The CMA amendments were passed on 9 December with a narrow majority, with only 59 MPs (out of 222) voting in favour.
These new laws:
- were rushed through the drafting process with no consideration or accommodation given for the input and recommendations of child rights experts and freedom of expression advocates
- ostensibly aim to fight cyberbullying but fail to provide any safeguards or discretionary measures to minimise the prosecution or criminalisation of children under the proposed new crimes, and wholly fail to acknowledge or recognise that most perpetrators of cyberbullying against children are also children
- were drafted without any research carried out (to our knowledge) with children as respondents
- fail to address or understand the root causes of cyberbullying by children
- fail to outline methods or means to allow for child offenders to be diverted from the criminal justice system
- wholly ignore the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child’s general comment No. 25 (2021) on children’s rights in relation to the digital environment, which emphasised that, when drafting laws relating to online safety, states must:
- consider the effects of such laws on children and should make every effort to create and use alternatives to a criminal justice response
- (where children are engaged in bullying or other forms of harmful online activity) pursue preventive, safeguarding and restorative justice approaches whenever possible, and avoid the criminalisation of children
- allow for undue interference with freedom of expression
- promote a predominantly punitive response to a complex and nuanced social issue
- Sign up for Aliran's free daily email updates or weekly newsletters or both
- Make a one-off donation to Persatuan Aliran Kesedaran Negara, CIMB a/c 8004240948
- Make a pledge or schedule an auto donation to Aliran every month or every quarter
- Become an Aliran member
As child advocates, my colleagues and I have strived to ensure we were consulted and have engaged with the government.
We have submitted recommendations and memorandums which, while lauding the government’s initiative to combat cyberbullying and online scams, demanded that changes be made to protect not only our children but also our collective rights to the freedom of expression.
We have attended meetings and briefings, been given extensions for the submissions of our recommendations, been thanked for our submissions and memorandums – and finally been ignored wholly and entirely in the drafting of these amendments.
As parliamentarians go in to vote on the amendments to the Penal Code and the new Online Safety Bill, I ask that you think about the children in your life who at this very moment are online and who will bear the very real risk of being culpable of cyberbullying, if these amendments go through.
If arrested, many of our children will have no alternatives under these laws but to be prosecuted through the legal system and face custodial sentences and harsh monetary penalties.
I ask that you consider the various forms of media and social media reporting that have in the past 10 years enabled us to have nuanced and bipartisan views – and understand that with these amendments and new laws, such freedom of expression stands to be throttled, stifled and oppressed by whoever is in power.
I ask you to recognise the growing threats to our artists, writers and cartoonists, who will henceforth face greater opposition as they speak their truth.
I ask that you push or vote for these amendments to be withdrawn, scrutinised, reviewed and amended to better protect the children of Malaysia and our collective right to exercise freedom of expression
Srividhya Ganapathy is the co-chairperson of the Child Rights Innovation and Betterment (Crib) Foundation and co-founder of The Talisman Project.
Crib Foundation and The Talisman Project are active members of the Online Safety and Advocacy Group, which submitted a two-part memorandum to the government on the proposed Online Safety Bill and amendments to the Penal Code. They are also part of the Sexual Offences Against Children and Evidence of Child Witness Advocacy Group, which has spoken up against the amendments to the CMA.
AGENDA RAKYAT - Lima perkara utama
- Tegakkan maruah serta kualiti kehidupan rakyat
- Galakkan pembangunan saksama, lestari serta tangani krisis alam sekitar
- Raikan kerencaman dan keterangkuman
- Selamatkan demokrasi dan angkatkan keluhuran undang-undang
- Lawan rasuah dan kronisme
