PETALING JAYA - The education system must ensure that sex education is provided to young children in schools, said two concerned groups.
The two are the Malaysian Paediatric Association and the College of Paediatrics, Academy of Medicine Malaysia.
"There is an urgent need to educate children on their right to say no' to requests for sex, to respect their bodies and the importance of abstinence and the consequences of having unprotected sex and sex at an early age," said the two groups in a joint statement.
Association president Dr Noor Khatijah Nurani and college president Prof Dr Thong Meow Keong also called upon parents, the education system, society, media as well as the government and policymakers to play their part.
The medical practitioners urged for a society where "neighbours keep watch over each other's children".
Concern about the rights of children being infringed was expressed after electrician Chuah Guan Jiu, 22, and bowler Noor Afizal Azizan, 21, were released on good behaviour bonds after being convicted of statutory rape of their girlfriends, aged 12 and 13 respectively.
The two groups also called on the Government to honour the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which Malaysia is a party to, as well as the Penal Code and the Child Act 2001.
