Parents Urged To Monitor Children's Use Of Internet, TV Time

KUALA LUMPUR, April 19 (Bernama) -- Parents must always monitor their children when they are using the Internet and watching television to check the spread of negative influences among the young, said Women, Family and Community Development Deputy Minister Heng Seai Kie. She said parents must also be firm in controlling use of the Internet because it was easy for children to surf without restrictions which could have a negative impact on them. "They need to be more concerned and responsible to ensure children do not engage in immoral activities or become victims of cyber crimes ,"she said when opening the "Strengthening the Family Integrity" seminar here on Thursday. The one-day seminar with the theme 'Children with Integrity Guarantee the WellBeing of Family and Nation' was organised by the Malaysian Integrity Institute with the cooperation of the National Population and Family Development Board Malaysia. Heng said a report from CyberSecurity Malaysia on April 2011 stated that cyber crimes went up 100 per cent that year with 3,064 cases compared to 2010. "In the first month of 2011, cyber crime cases recorded an increase of up to 164 per cent but more worrying is the exposure of children to negative elements in the cyber world," she said. According to Heng, Norton Online Family Report in 2010 stated that Malaysian children spent an average of 19 hours a week surfing the Internet and only four in 10 parents knew what were accessed and surfed by their children. "Nine of 10 children in Malaysia have at one time been exposed to negative experiences online and this scenario gave a negative impact to their emotional development," she said. Heng suggested that parents take the initiative by installing various software which could prevent their children from surfing web pages which could have a negative impact on them. "Parents can also place their computers or television in an open area so that they can supervise their children when surfing the Internet," she added. -- BERNAMA