Kelantan has among most sexual crimes against children - Saifuddin
Published: Mar 1, 2024 8:30 PM
Kelantan is one of the states with the highest number of cases involving sexual crimes against children, said Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail.
This is despite the east coast state having its own syariah criminal code, he added, in response to Sik MP Ahmad Tarmizi Sulaiman’s suggestion that the country adopt syariah law to prevent cases of child sex crimes.
“He (Tarmizi) said the increase in sexual crimes against children is because of the failure of the current legislation due to the lack of syariah enactments.
“This syariah criminal code was made in Kelantan. However, Kelantan is among the states with the highest number of cases,” Saifuddin told reporters in Putrajaya today.
Citing police statistics, he said sexual crimes against children are on the rise in Kelantan, Terengganu, and Kedah when compared to 2022 and 2023.
At the same time, they were decreasing in Penang, he added.
Sik MP Ahmad Tarmizi Sulaiman
Yesterday, Tarmizi quoted the chief of the police’s Criminal Investigation Department Mohd Shuhaily Mohd Zain’s report, telling the Dewan Rakyat that sexual crimes against children increased by 11.8 percent (202 cases) from last year to the beginning of this year.
The PAS lawmaker attributed the increase in sexual crimes involving minors to the inability of civil courts to handle such cases.
He proposed the enactment of syariah laws in every state as well as the amendment of the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 to prevent such crimes.
However, Saifuddin rejected Tarmizi’s view as baseless.
“He quoted the briefing given to me by the director of the Criminal Investigation Department. So he took part of that and said the cases of sexual offences against children were because the syariah enactment was not implemented like in Kelantan.
“But, I speak in terms of numbers because numbers don’t lie. In Kelantan, 98 percent are Muslim.
“So I want to advise the Sik MP there is no need to take one or two segments separately. Let us take on this responsibility together because this is a problem in our society.
“This disease does not stop by saying it results from not implementing the syariah criminal code,” Saifuddin said.
Breakdown by economic status
He added that statistics show the B40 group commits the most sexual crimes against children.
“For every 100 perpetrators, 70 percent are from the B40 group. What does that mean? It is done by people of low economic status.
“For the M40 group, it is 24 percent for every 100 perpetrators, while the breakdown by race shows that 67 percent of the perpetrators of the crime are Malays.
“Now is not the time to show laziness and to keep blaming because it is a shared responsibility to overcome the crime,” he said.
Yesterday, Tarmizi quoted the chief of the police’s Criminal Investigation Department Mohd Shuhaily Mohd Zain’s report, telling the Dewan Rakyat that sexual crimes against children increased by 11.8 percent (202 cases) from last year to the beginning of this year.
The PAS lawmaker attributed the increase in sexual crimes involving minors to the inability of civil courts to handle such cases.
He proposed the enactment of syariah laws in every state as well as the amendment of the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 to prevent such crimes.
However, Saifuddin rejected Tarmizi’s view as baseless.
“He quoted the briefing given to me by the director of the Criminal Investigation Department. So he took part of that and said the cases of sexual offences against children were because the syariah enactment was not implemented like in Kelantan.
“But, I speak in terms of numbers because numbers don’t lie. In Kelantan, 98 percent are Muslim.
“So I want to advise the Sik MP there is no need to take one or two segments separately. Let us take on this responsibility together because this is a problem in our society.
“This disease does not stop by saying it results from not implementing the syariah criminal code,” Saifuddin said.
Breakdown by economic status
He added that statistics show the B40 group commits the most sexual crimes against children.
“For every 100 perpetrators, 70 percent are from the B40 group. What does that mean? It is done by people of low economic status.
“For the M40 group, it is 24 percent for every 100 perpetrators, while the breakdown by race shows that 67 percent of the perpetrators of the crime are Malays.
“Now is not the time to show laziness and to keep blaming because it is a shared responsibility to overcome the crime,” he said.
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