​ SPEECH BY

Yang Berhormat

Pehin Orang Kaya Hamzah Pahlawan Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Abdullah

Bin Begawan Mudim Dato Paduka Haji Bakar

Minister Of Communications

Brunei Darussalam

On

The Launching Of Child Online Protection (COP) Framework Workshop

Monday, 23^rd April 2012, 2.30 pm,

The Rizqun International Hotel

Yang Mulia Dato Paduka Haji Awang Alaihuddin bin Pehin Orang Kaya Digadong Seri Lela Dato Seri Utama Haji Awang Mohd Taha,

Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Communications

as Chairman of the Authority for Info-communications Technology Industry of Brunei Darussalam (AITI)

Permanent Secretaries and Deputy Permanent Secretaries

Yang Mulia Awang Haji Osman bin Haji Ladis, Acting Chief Executive of AITI

Distinguished speakers

Directors and Senior Officials

Industry Experts

Distinguished guests

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Alhamdulillahi rabbil alamin, wasallatuwassala mu’ala ashrafil ambiaiwal mursaleen, wa’ala alihi wasahbihi ajmain.

I must take this opportunity to thank the organisers for inviting me this afternoon for the opening of the Child Online Protection or COP Framework Workshop for Brunei Darussalam.

I would also like to take this opportunity to welcome our partners from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the International Multilateral Partnership Against Cyber Threats (IMPACT), distinguished speakers and all the participants who, with great dedication, are attending this workshop today.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Over the past decade we have seen a tremendous growth of internet within our society. There is no doubt that internet has been an informative tool, and today it has become the cornerstone for education and communication throughout our society including the children which is the most important part of this internet society.

Nowadays, we could see that children are embracing the internet and technologies so well. The internet has become an integral part of their daily lives. They use internet to research school papers, chatting with friends, sharing videos and photos, play interactive games, literally access the world. Given the amount of contents available on the internet, knowingly or unknowingly, these children could stumble upon unsuitable materials such as pornography, violent videos and images, or sexually explicit contents and gambling while surfing the internet. Children are exposed to these inappropriate contents and are vulnerable to accept and engage themselves in similar activities.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The recent publication on social networking statistics has shown that Brunei ranks No. 1 in Asia in terms of Facebook usage. We stand at 59.25% penetration as compared to Singapore, which is the most wired country in the Southeast Asian region and is three places behind Brunei.

I believe these Facebook users would include children and young people at large. This new medium of social networking poses additional risks and threats to our children as their identities and privacies are being liable to be intruded in cyberspace.

Children are exposing themselves by posting their personal IDs, emotions, location and images on the social networking. All these information could be taken advantage by unscrupulous people who are targeting these young children. Unknowingly children can become the target and victims of pornography, kidnapping, rape, deception, drug mules, or even children trafficking by the adult predators or cybercriminals.

This is a worrying trend and is indeed a rising concern amongst the parents and teachers. We therefore have an obligation to protect our children. Online safety for children must be given a priority.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am happy to learn that today we have all the key stakeholders – the public and the private sectors, as well as the NGOs, indeed all who are involved in this issue – gathered in this forum to discuss the most crucial issues in this decade – how to protect our children online.

Most agree that protecting children requires multi-pronged approach with parental or adult supervision as the key component. We also have a clear role to play. We need to address issues on policy changes, industry regulation, legislative needs as well as monitoring and educating the young people.

I believe these two days workshop will provide a valuable avenue for the policy-makers, regulators, industry leaders, academia, law enforcement as well as the NGOs to discuss, share and exchange their views and experiences on addressing the key policies and strategies for children’s online safety, and thereon developing a Child Online Protection (COP) framework for Negara Brunei Darussalam.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

In the Ministry of Communications, we envision and strive towards creating a sophisticated society and excellence in communications for enhancing national competitiveness. While ensuring that we have an equitable access to a highly developed ICT and robust infrastructure, we also need to build a secured and safe environment for our people to access to the cyberworld. Hence, the development of this COP framework comes at the right time when we need to address the importance of safeguarding our children’s online experience and activities.

I hope to see a strong collaboration between all the stakeholders involved today and come up with their own key initiatives, programs and measures to tackle the online risks for children and young people and protecting them from accessing risky contents as well engaging in negative online behaviour.

I wish the participants all the best for this workshop and hope this meeting will bear fruitful discussions in moving COP forward to the next level. 

Last but not least, I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to AITI for hosting this event and to ITU and IMPACT for their support given in bringing the subject matter experts for this workshop. I wish you a fruitful and enjoyable stay here in Brunei Darussalam.

Thank you.

Wabillahi Taufik Walhidayah Assalamualaikum Warahmahtullahi Wabarakatuh.​