Makchic launches 'Bayangkanlah' a book to teach children on consent and body safety
Parenting portal, makchic.com (Makchic) has launched “Bayangkanlah” a Bahasa Malaysia children's book that explains important topics on consent, personal safety and bodily limitations of the children authored by Liyana Taff and Kimberly Lee.
The book is a translation of the book "What if?" which was launched by Makchic in September last year.
The book's co-author and Makchic management editor Kimberly Lee said it has always been a vision of Makchic to build a safer community for the children of various backgrounds.
“As a parenting portal, we understand the need to help parents and guardians to conduct important conversations about the principles of personal safety in a way that is appropriate for the age, and culture of Malaysians,” she said.
Kimberly also added that according to the Selangor Social Welfare Department (JKM), 1,910 cases of abuse and harassment involving children were recorded between March 2020 to March 2021 in which a total of 606 includes the cases of sexual abuse.
Meanwhile, in Penang, Women's Centre for Change (WCC) recorded over 82 cases of child sexual abuse in 2020, compared to 55 cases in 2019.
“These data show how important it is to create awareness and initiate discussions about bodily consent and limitations, not only among children but also for parents and guardians,” said Makchic special project director and co-author “What If?”, Liyana Taff.
She added that the book includes a Discussion Guide that lists tips and activities that are easy to follow to help the parents to start the conversation at home.
“The book is made for children aged three to eight years old but for us, the earlier you exposed them to such education is better.
“Plus, education at home can start at any age. It is never too late to start educating your children regarding consent and their bodily limitations,” Liyana said at the launching of the book.
Liyana also said they are looking into translating the book into different languages such as Mandarin to create a wider reach to raise more awareness on the importance of consent for children.
Chief executive officer of Makchic, Najmin Tajudin said since the launch of What if? last year, over 2500 copies were sold.
"We have received positive feedback not only from parents, but also educational centers, Non-Governmental Organisations, as well as the Parliament members on how they found the book helpful to the community and easy to use.
"This has prompted us to translate this book into Bahasa Malaysia," added Najmin.
Members of the public can purchase the ‘What if?’ and “Bayangkanlan” at RM39.90 and RM15.00 on Makchic’s official Shopee and LazMall store. The books are also available at the stockists listed here.
For more information on “Bayangkanlah”, please visit https://www.suri.makchic.com/buku.
