KOTA KINABALU, Aug 13 — Putrajaya is planning new laws to regulate online media due to alleged misuse of the constitutional right to freedom of expression on the Internet, said newly-appointed Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak.
While declining to elaborate on the new legislation that is viewed as Putrajaya reneging on its pledge not to police the Internet, the minister gave his assurance that plan to limit speech online was made with good intentions.
“People are now becoming openly irresponsible with their statements or expressions on the internet and social media, and hiding it under the ‘freedom of expression umbrella’.
“There is a difference between freedom of expression and making slanderous statements or character assassination,” said Salleh.
He explained that while the Federal Constitution guarantees Malaysians the right to free speech and expression, this was not a licence to defame.
Salleh also said that there was no country with absolute freedom of speech.
“The people must also know their limitations. These limitations are enforced for good purposes, including maintaining national security and public order,” he said in an email interview with Malay Mail Online.
He said that the amendments were still at a discussion stage and it was too premature to give out details.
“A balance will have to be sought, that is for sure, to achieve our objective but not at the expense of free speech and freedom of information,” he said.
Last Thursday, Salleh revealed that Putrajaya may soon introduce tighter Internet laws to regulate social media postings as well as compel online news organisations to register their websites, similar to what is practised in Singapore.
It is unclear why existing laws such as those covering defamation and sedition are insufficient to address the offences cited as necessitating the new law nor why online news portals may be regulated for issues blamed on social network users.
One cited reason was the ease with which Malaysians circumvented Putrajaya’s ban on accessing Sarawak Report after it was blocked, although this highlighted the technical rather than legal difficulties in policing the Internet.
Another factor was the replication of content from the whistleblower website that was banned by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) for allegedly being a threat to national stability.
The proposal is part of a raft of new cyber laws allowing the government to better police the Internet that will likely be tabled this October in Parliament.
Malaysia’s online media currently enjoys relative freedom due to the government’s promise in the 1990s to not censor the Internet and the absence of licensing requirements, unlike that of print media that require printing permits that may be suspended and revoked by the Home Ministry.
Several watchdogs and opposition politicians have said that the regulation of online media may lead to the alternative news sources imposing self-censorship and curtail Malaysians’ rights to freedom of expression and information.
