Deputy Prime Minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who is also women, family and community development minister, said the study method should be explained in detail.
“Obviously, the result is something worrying.
“Nonetheless, the findings should be explained in terms of how the study was conducted.
“How small or big is the sample?
“How did MAP obtain the conclusions?” she said when asked to comment on a media report yesterday that 80% of children aged between 10 and 17 had watched pornography intentionally.
She was met after opening a Seminar on Volunteers in National Hospitals at Universiti Putra Malaysia’s medicine and health science faculty here today.
Wan Azizah also asked the National Population and Family Development Board (LPPKN) and other sources to study the findings of the study by MAP.
She said her ministry was giving serious attention to children exposed to pornography in cyberspace.
The deputy prime minister said the fifth Malaysia Population and Family Study in 2014 showed 35.3% of individuals, aged 13 to 24, were exposed to pornography via the internet, smartphones and pornographic digital video discs.
The study is conducted by LPPKN every 10 years.
The women, family and community development ministry, through LPPKN, has been giving education to parents on the safety of children in cyberspace through its Children and Family Safety Awareness Programme (Peka).
This programme teaches parents to assist children on cyberbullying, sexting and online grooming.
“Up till the end of last year, 184 Peka programmes had been conducted, involving 5,520 participants from all over Malaysia.
“Another programme is Pekerti, which gives exposure to children and teenagers on sexuality. We had 779,000 participants involved in the programme as at the end of 2018.
“Apart from that, the Cyber Smart Family campaign is aimed at ensuring quality time with the family as well as setting appropriate time for using gadgets.
“We also had the Family Reject Pornography (STOP) campaign, an initiative by non-governmental organisations,” added Wan Azizah.