Malaysia Queen Urges Serious Attention To Online Safety Of Children And Teenagers

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 14 (Bernama) -- Her Majesty Raja Zarith Sofiah, Queen of Malaysia calls for the safety of children and teenagers in the online space to be given serious attention by both authorities and society, cautioning that it risks becoming a highly toxic environment with potentially lasting harmful effects if left unchecked.

Her Majesty also expressed concern over the growing prevalence of mental health issues that are increasingly showing negative impacts, particularly on children and teenagers.

“I was deeply affected by the death of a female student last year who was stabbed at school and am concerned about the impact of the online environment, which contains various threats to the mental health of society, especially young people.

“As such, serious attention and action must be taken by the authorities and society to protect the younger generation from safety threats in the online space,” Her Majesty said in a statement uploaded on the Facebook page of Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar Saturday.

Raja Zarith Sofiah made the remarks after granting an audience to a delegation from the Oxford Alumni Malaysia Club at Istana Negara yesterday, during which online safety issues were also discussed.

Recently, the Queen launched the Ilham Seni Diraja programme, a pilot project involving 200 school students in Kuala Lumpur aimed at providing B40 students with constructive artistic avenues to support positive mental health and prevent them from falling into social ills.

-- BERNAMA