EFFORTS carried out by the Penang government to check cyberbullying will not be fruitful if they do not receive encouragement and support from all sectors of the community.
Chong Eng, the state executive councillor in charge of Women Development and Family, Gender Inclusiveness and Non-Islamic Religious Affairs Committee, said Malaysia has high social media users, being ranked as the eighth highest in Asia.
“Malaysians are found to be always encountering cyberbully from social media site,” Chong Eng told a press conference on ‘Cyber Bully’ held at Komtar today.
Also present were Penang deputy chief of commercial crime Supt R. Chelvam and its Investigation Department officer DSP Anika Fatimah, state Economic Planning Unit (BPEN) senior assistant secretary D. Sivabalan and its principal assistant secretary Nazrulizam Kamaruddin.
“I encourage all Penangites to come forward to lodge a report to the relevant authorities to ensure proper punishment could be melted out for cyberbullies and also to take care of the welfare of cyberbully victims,” she stressed.
Chong Eng added that Multimedia and Communication Commission (MCMC), police, Social Welfare Department, state Education Department, state Health Department and Women Centre For Change (WCC) had discussed the mechanism to prevent cyberbullying in Penang in particular.
“Cyberbullying must be prevented and efforts should begin from oneself.
“Children in this modern era are exposed to technology advancement, which can bring forth cyberbullying if it is not properly utilised.
“Let’s us all play our parts together to overcome cyberbullying,” Chong Eng stressed.
Meanwhile, Supt Chelvam said there are many ways of cyberbullying. One of the common ways is by spreading rumours of the victim on social media.
“For the past three years, some 22 cases were reported. A lot of victims did not come forward to make reports.
“Come out to lodge an early report to prevent further damage,” Supt Chelvam advised.
Story by Danny Ooi
Pix by Law Suun Ting