In the first six months of 2022, police had recorded 1,348 cases of child sexual abuse.
And from 2018 to November 2023, out of 6,540 cases under the six categories of offences in the Sexual Offences Against Children Act, 91 per cent or 5,965 involved physical sexual assault on a child.
Paedophilia and the sexual abuse and grooming of children can begin without people realising it because it can be a small act in everyday life.
Paedophiles come from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds, but they all demonstrate similar characteristics.
Paedophiles have an abnormal desire for sexual relations with children.
It is not a new sex crime. What is new is the public attention that it is getting in Malaysia, especially after the Richard Huckle case.
The British man's crimes included rapes that he filmed, photographed and shared online with other paedophiles worldwide.
A sexual groomer refers to someone who builds a relationship of trust and emotional connection with a child or young person for manipulation, exploitation and abuse.
Worryingly, a predator can groom a child for sex in just one hour, according to the police.
Criminologists found that 40 per cent of the sexual offending risk was explained by genetic factors (nature) and two per cent was attributed to environmental factors (nurture) shared between siblings, such as parental attitudes, the neighbourhood and education.
Parents and guardians must take good care of the children.
They must also dismantle the culture of shame associated with sexual offences by having greater empathy.
Research revealed that nine out of 10 of the perpetrators are close to the mothers of their victims, who are highly susceptible to abuse due to their vulnerability and trust in others.
Parents must pay attention when any adult seems overly focused on befriending a child, regularly do spot checks on a child's nurseries and babysitters, and do not allow a child to go alone on vacation or spend the night with someone other than those proven to be trustworthy.
Parents and experts need to provide sexually abused children with the support and resources they need to heal and recover.
Certainly, do not assume that a person is reliable because of position, status or title, or because they work in a place where children commonly gather.
In July, the Internet Watch Foundation and the United Nations Children's Fund identified a significant and growing threat: artificial intelligence (AI) technology being used to produce child sexual abuse material on the Dark Web.
Offenders can use AI to take an image of a child and make it appear as though the child is nude, engaged in sexual acts or grooming online.
Thus, combating child sexual abuse, especially on the Dark Web, requires law enforcement agencies to be more proactive and two steps ahead.
It demands cybersecurity experts to collaborate and marshal their technical resources innovatively to address this menace.
It can only get worse if we do not act.
* The writer is director and professorial chair, Institute of Crime and Criminology, HELP University