Sabah DAP candidates call for digital literacy, end to violence against women in digital space

In conjunction with the International Day on the Elimination of Violence Against Women (IDEVAW) today, four female DAP candidates in the 17th Sabah state election have called for digital literacy, transparency and advocacy to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls in the digital space.

The four candidates are Janine Lasimbang (N25 Kepayan), Noorita Sual (N43 Kemabong) Tang Szu Ching (N56 Tanjong Papat) and Vivian Wong (N55 Elopura).

“Digital tools are increasingly being used to stalk, harass, and abuse women and girls.

“UN Women categorises these as image-based abuse or non-consensual sharing of intimate images – often called revenge porn or leaked nudes, cyberbullying, trolling, and online threats, online and sexual harassment, AI-generated deepfakes such as sexually explicit images, deepfake pornography, and digitally manipulated images, videos or audio, hate speech and disinformation on social media platforms, doxxing – publishing private information, online stalking or surveillance or tracking to monitor someone’s activities, online grooming and sexual exploitation, catfishing and impersonation and misogynistic networks like man-o-sphere and incel forums.

“Digital violence used to target women in public office and politics but in recent times journalists, activists, human rights defenders and young women have been vilified, defamed, dishonoured and humiliated as victims of digital violence in the name of free speech. As most digital violence targets more women than men, violence online can often lead to violence in real life.

“Many women and young girls have been victims of blackmail, coercion, sexual grooming, physical abuse and mental stress that can have long-lasting effects for the survivors. Young women in Malaysia have committed suicide as a result of online harassments and verbal and viral threats – in person and online,” they said in a joint statement.

The theme for IDEVAW this year is “UNiTE to End Digital Violence against All Women and Girls”.

The Sabah state election would be held on 29 Nov 2025. Early polling took place today.