Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil
KUALA LUMPUR: The Women, Family and Community Development Ministry will cooperate with the police to curb the exploitation of children for fund-raising through the Child Act 2001.
Its minister, Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, said offenders could be charged under Section 32 of the Act which carries a fine up to RM5,000 or imprisonment up to two years or both, if convicted.
She said parents or guardians of rescued children would be bound to obey court orders under Section 30 of the Act to ensure that the welfare of the children would not be neglected.
“The Welfare Services Department will lodge police reports on cases of children being exploited for fund-raising,” she told reporters after receiving United States Special Representative to Muslim Communities Farah Anwar Pandith here yesterday.
Shahrizat said an inter-agency discussion held on Tuesday had agreed to conduct a joint operation to rescue children, who
were exploited for fund-raising, while the police would detain, investigate and prosecute those responsible.
On her meeting with Pandith, Shahrizat said it centred on bilateral relations between women in the US and Malaysia, particularly Muslim women entrepreneurship.
“Pandith is here to learn about what we are doing and maybe she could pursue certain ideas or proposals that we had tossed,” added Shahrizat.
Pandith said she had learned a lot about what the ministry was doing and called upon Malaysia to take part in the US global initiative to promote women’s participation in the public service.
She said the initiative was a collaboration between the state department and seven colleges in the US.
“We would love to see Malaysian women, universities, NGOs take part in this global effort to see more women involved in serving
around the world,” she said, adding that, the meeting was resourceful. — Bernama