KUALA LUMPUR — Most MPs welcomed the Communications and Multimedia (Amendment) Bill 2024, calling it timely in battling online crimes, but also cautioning against some of the bill’s vague and ambiguous terms.
In the Dewan Rakyat this evening, there were calls for the bill to be referred to a parliamentary select committee for more fine-tuning of some of its terms, but the bill was passed nevertheless by 59 in support to 40 against during bloc voting. 122 MPs were absent and one abstained.
During debate at the bill’s second reading, Wong Shu Qi (Kluang – PH) commended the ministry’s effort to craft amendments that listed online scams as a crime, while providing protections against content that promote sexual abuse of children.
The DAP lawmaker said she is aware of the concerns of the civil society groups on provisions that could impede free speech but said she also worried that Malaysia is under threat from disinformation.
“Disinformation is where false information is intentionally disseminated to influence public views.
“We can’t deny the threat of disinformation to our society as it could lead to distrust among the people, if people only pick information that aligns with their worldviews. In the end, this situation can lead to serious polarisation within society,” Wong said.
RSN Rayer (Jelutong-PH) said such abusing free speech would lead to the proliferation of cyberbullying, which has led to loss of lives.
“Free speech has its limits or else you will bring down the country with hate speech” he said when debating the bill.
Some lawmakers expressed concerns about the ambiguity of some terms – such as what defines “grossly offensive” and “excessive” in the bill, which they said if left unchecked, could make the law prone to abuse.
Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman (Muar-Muda) who said that these two terms are too “subjective and ambiguous”, noting that even if the bill specifies that satire and parody are not criminal acts, they could be deemed “grossly offensive” and “excessive”, making them liable for action to be taken their perpetrators.
Ramkarpal Singh (Bukit Gelugor-PH) also spoke on satire and parody, noting that they could be considered “grossly offensive” and “excessive” by some people.
Lim Lip Eng (Kepong-PH) and Khairil Nizam Khirudin (PN-Jerantut) called for the bill to be sent back to the Parliamentary Special Select Committee (PSSC) on Human Rights, Election and Institutional Reforms so that these terms can be properly defined, which was welcomed by the committee’s chairman, William Leong (Selayang-PH).
“I would like to suggest that this amendment (bill) is brought to the PSSC so that we can revisit – not the policy but the (disputed) definitions so that they can be fine-tuned,” Leong said.
However, Sim Tze Tzin (Bayan Baru-PH) said the amendment bill had tempered the current law’s arbitrary provisions while meeting the need to combat online crimes.
“This amendment bill is an effort by the government to balance the wide range of powers (in the current version of the law) by placing restrictions (with definitions of terms), as well as (dealing) with problems such as online scams, child pornography and other crimes that our country is facing right now,” he added. – December 9, 2024