Kuala lumpur: The Dewan Negara today passed the Sexual Offences Against Children (Amendment) Bill 2026 to expand Malaysia's legal jurisdiction over child sexual offences committed outside the country's territory. Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform) M. Kulasegaran highlighted the significance of this amendment amidst a 117 percent increase in child sexual crime cases involving foreign nationals in Malaysia from 2021 to 2025.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) statistics revealed a rise in reported cases from 1,095 in 2021 to 2,385 in 2025. The number of foreign suspects increased from 67 in 2021 to 148 in 2025, predominantly involving nationals from Indonesia, Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Pakistan. Kulasegaran emphasized the necessity of the amendment to prevent individuals with substantial connections to Malaysia from evading legal action for offences committed abroad.
Kulasegaran further explained the importance of the amendment in ensuring Malaysia possess adequate jurisdiction to act against perpetrators of child sexual offences with clear ties to the country, even if the crimes have cross-border elements. He also outlined the Royal Malaysia Police's focus on digital forensic investigations, targeting the threats posed by child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and AI-generated deepfake content.
The police are concentrating on five key areas: analyzing AI models, examining system logs, tracing IP addresses, and verifying data integrity through hash values. These measures aim to maintain the digital chain of custody's admissibility in court, combating technology-enabled sexual crimes effectively.
Kulasegaran stressed the importance of establishing links between digital content and suspects through valid digital evidence and reliable forensic analysis. He noted that technological advancements, including AI, have made child sexual offences increasingly complex and capable of crossing national borders.
The amendment allows for the seizure and preservation of digital evidence, digital forensic examinations, and AI content analysis to detect deepfake images or videos. It also involves collecting supporting evidence such as telecommunications records and digital platform logs to connect suspects to the crimes, followed by digital forensic expert reports to corroborate scientific findings.
Earlier, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said, in her second reading of the Bill, emphasized that the amendment sends a strong message that Malaysia will not tolerate those exploiting children. The Bill, brief in form but impactful in scope, enables enforcement actions in circumstances not covered under existing provisions.
The amendment, which the Dewan Rakyat passed on June 30, seeks to modify the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017 (Act 792) to apply extraterritorially to offences committed overseas where the offender or victim has a connection to Malaysia. The Dewan Negara sitting is set to resume on Monday.