SHAH ALAM – The rising number of sexual crime cases in this country is becoming increasingly alarming, particularly as it affects children as young as nine years old who became addicted to pornography and hypersexuality.
Puteri Raudhatus Sakinah Youth Guidance Centre chief executive officer Rosmawati Zainal said that the rate of criminal cases started to increase among children after the Movement Control Order (MCO) due to Covid-19.
She stressed that although the guidance centre is limited to 35 people, the number of applications for admission by parents and guardians, as well as cases referred to the Social Welfare Department (JKM) remained high.
In fact, they receive nearly 10 calls per day regarding the matter.
"So far we have only accommodated children and teenage girls aged 12 to 25 who are stuck with social problems such as promiscuous sex, neglect, pregnancy out of wedlock, illegal, pornography addiction and incest.
"Previously, those who entered this centre were mostly 15 to 17 years old involving cases of pregnancy out of wedlock however this time we see that there has been a slight difference after the MCO where the age is very young which is 12 years old due to the problem of pornography and sex addiction.
"It's quite challenging for us because even at the age of 12, we find that they have been trapped in this issue since the age of nine after going through counselling and guidance sessions in the first six months of admission," she told Sinar.
Rosmawati said it was even more distressing when most of the children who come to the care centre have mental illnesses, depression, extreme stress and trauma.
She added her team also received many cases involving incest cases that started from pornography addiction because they wanted to try and feel pleasure.
Rosmawati said, there is no denying that sex education was important to expose to children, but parents played an important role in providing religious appreciation and educating a sense of shame in oneself from a young age.