KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 19 — Women, Family and Development Minister Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri said today it is harder to trace child abuse cases as many of such cases happened within family homes.

She compared the situations to cases that happened at childcare centres, where it would be easy for the government to take legal action.

“But I want to state here, that there are more cases that happen within a household than in the childcare centres.

“If in the childcare centre, it is easy for us to take legal action, [but] if within a household, if there is already legal action it is up to the court,” Nancy told the Parliament here.

She was responding to a question by PKR’s Tebrau MP Jimmy Puah who asked if the government has plans to review the existing laws to prevent the increase in child abuse cases and what are the government’s efforts to reach out to the community including non-governmental organisations to increase awareness on the issue.

Puah was referring to a child abuse case that happened in August where a seven-year-old was abused by his mother and her partner at their home.

Section 31(1)(a) of the Child Act 2001 provides for a fine of not more than RM50,000 and 20 years imprisonment for any individual, parent or guardian found guilty of abusing, neglecting and mistreating a child.

However, she said the general public may not be aware of this punishment.

“In addition to the Act, there are also penalties that can be imposed based on provisions under other Acts, such as the Sexual Offenses Against Children Act 2017, Penal Code and others.

“However, not many people know about this punishment. If they don't know (about this) then awareness or preventive efforts intended through the provisions of the Acts are not felt by the general public,” she said adding that the government is in the midst of preparing for awareness programmes to convey this to the public.

Last month, Nancy said her ministry has proposed appropriate punishment for abusers under the Children's Commission Bill to be tabled in Dewan Rakyat in October.

In March, Nancy divulged that 1,301 children were physically abused nationwide in 2022. From that number, 679 cases involved boys while 622 were girls.