Amendments to Act 588 to be tabled in next Parliament session — Teo

KUALA LUMPUR: Amendments to the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 (Act 588) are being fine-tuned, the Senate was told yesterday.

Deputy Communications Minister Teo Nie Ching said that the bill regarding the proposed amendments to the act is expected to be tabled in the next Parliament session.

In addition, she said a technical committee comprising the Communications Ministry, the Digital Ministry and the Legal Affairs Division of the Prime Minister’s Department is conducting a study on the need to enact the Digital Safety Act.

“We intend to table this new bill during the upcoming Parliament session. We hope that with the amendment to Act 588 and the introduction of the new act, we will be able to preserve freedom of speech while also safeguarding the public from fake news, fraud, and provocative issues pertaining to royalty, religion and race (3R),” she said during a question and answer session.

She said this in reply to a supplementary question from Senator Datuk Juhanis Abd Aziz, who wanted to know whether the government has any plan to enact a new law to ensure that freedom of speech is in line with technology and digital changes and does not go beyond sensitive matters, especially the 3R issue and fake news.

Teo said that the government always upholds media freedom in the country and the people’s right to freedom of expression, as enshrined in Clause 1(a) of Article 10 of the Federal Constitution.

“The Communications Ministry always implements improvement initiatives from time to time, with particular emphasis on safeguarding the interests and freedom of the press in Malaysia.

“Among them is the proposed establishment of the Malaysian Media Council,” she said.

Teo said that the ministry, through the Information Department, has also developed the Malaysian Code of Ethics for Journalists, which is a guideline for media agencies to carry out their duties, thus promoting the professionalism and integrity of the media as a source of news and information trusted by the people.