Some big names are coming together this Saturday to find a way to tackle child sexual grooming.

This weekend, R.AGE, United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) and a few friends will be coming together for what could be a historic event – a townhall to discuss changes to Malaysia’s laws on cyber sexual exploitation.

The recently-launched R.AGE documentary series Predator In My Phone showed just how real the problem of sexual grooming is in Malaysia by filming undercover journalists, disguised as 15-year-olds, meeting up with chat app sex predators.

But now we need a solution, and the #ReplyForAll-MY townhall hopes to achieve just that.

Opening up about cyber exploitation is the first step towards combating it.

Organised by Unicef, Women: Girls and Digi, the event will take place on Saturday, 10am, at Makespace, Quill City Mall, Kuala Lumpur.

It will see some important groups coming to the table – the Ministry of Women Family and Community Development, the Royal Malaysian Police and various NGOs.

But most important, several child advocates and student leaders will also be at the event, where they’ll have the chance to tell their side of the story and contribute ideas.

There will also be a sprinkling of star dust at the event. Actress Lisa Surihani, who has come on board as a supporter of the Predator In My Phone campaign, will be there.

The guys behind JinnyBoyTV have also pledged their support, and a PSA featuring the YouTube duo will be revealed at the event. Sadly, they won’t be able to make an appearance as they will be overseas.

Also launching at the event will be a trailer for the latest episode of Predator In My Phone, as well as an excellent new initiative by Unicef to promote digital safety.

And that’s where the main focus will be – how to keep Malaysian children safe online.

R.AGE via U-Report ran its first poll on online sexual harassment.

RELATED STORY: Grooming and the Danger Signs: Frequently Asked Questions

R.AGE and Unicef are already working together on a pledge campaign for laws against child grooming, which is the main modus operandi of the profiles on Predator In My Phone.

We have already collected around 4,000 pledges in the past week, but we’ll need as many as we can get, so go to rage.com.my/predator to pledge your support today.

Aside from anti-grooming laws, a variety of other issues will be addressed during a panel discussion.

On the panel will be representatives from the Ministry, PDRM’s newly-established Child Cyber Sexual Crime Investigation Unit, ECPAT (an international non-governmental organisation working to end sexual violence and exploitation of children), Digi and
R.AGE.

Find out more about the #ReplyForAll-MY townhall at facebook.com/ragepmp