Child Abuse: Promote Talian Kasih via MKN SMS - Hannah Yeoh

KUALA LUMPUR: Segambut Member of Parliament, Hannah Yeoh called on the government to use all available resources to promote the Talian Kasih number.

This includes efforts through MKN SMS to raise awareness and empower the local community in reporting incidents of child abuse and domestic violence.

"Cases of child abuse will continue to increase during the period of the Movement Control Order (MCO) as they are all in the same house.

"To raise awareness, the government needs to use all the resources they have, including the MKN SMS platform and disseminate to all citizens about the Talian Kasih number.

"If neighbours always see and hear children crying or depression, just call Talian Kasih so that government officials can come and check whether or not the child is being abused," she explained when contacted by Astro AWANI on Sunday.

In fact, she stressed, the government also needs to increase the number of Child Protectors in the Community Welfare Department and be given training from time to time.

In addition, improving pre-marital courses by mandating parenting topics to prevent parents from neglecting their responsibilities.

At the same time, the former Deputy Minister of Women, Family and Community Development, also stressed that the neighbours are the eyes and ears of the government to report cases of abuse around them.

"The most important thing at this time is to create awareness about the platform to enable neighbours to report abuse cases.

"Neighbors are the ears and eyes of the government at the moment because the government cannot afford to be everywhere. Sometimes they do not know what happened after they reported the abuse case.

"So with the increase in this promotion, the community will be educated and they are aware of their shared responsibilities and are not afraid to report cases," he said.

She advised those who face or are aware of child abuse happening to immediately contact Talian Kasih in 15999 and the WhatsApp application 019-2615999.

For those who face emotional stress, they are advised to seek counselling to avoid any unwanted problems.