Govt to study need for stronger laws to curb cyberbullying, says Fahmi

3 months ago

Extremely unhappy with incidents involving cyberbullying, the Prime Minister wants authorities to take action against these online aggressors, says government spokesman Fahmi Fadzil.

The Communications Minister said the ministry plans to address the issue, including reviewing existing laws such as the Penal Code and the Communications and Multimedia Act.

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Transcript

00:00Secondly, I have given an update and a statement to the Ministers and the Ministerial Government

00:11regarding the status of cyberbullying.

00:16This is related to a recent incident where a 29-year-old woman,

00:25Rajeswari, the daughter of Apahu, was believed to have committed suicide

00:30as a result of being bullied in a TikTok session.

00:34Not at all, but it is understood that there may be a series of such incidents.

00:40That matter is being investigated by the authorities.

00:42Therefore, we hand it over to the Ministry of Home Affairs.

00:45However, I have made a meeting with the Minister at the Ministry of Justice,

00:52the Minister of Law and Reformation, Datuk Sri Azalina,

00:55a representative from the Ministry of Digital, Datuk Wilson,

01:00the Deputy Minister of Digital,

01:02a representative from the Ministry of Home Affairs,

01:05the Department of State Prosecutors,

01:08and the Department of Criminal Investigation, Bukit Aman.

01:12I have informed the Ministers that there are three main steps that will be taken.

01:19The first step is to investigate the changes in the existing laws,

01:24including the Penal Code, the Communications and Multimedia Act,

01:32as well as several other laws.

01:34Meanwhile, the Ministry will also investigate

01:40if there is a need to create a new act,

01:44specifically for cyberbullying.

01:46For your information,

01:48a cyberbullying survey has been conducted,

01:55but it has not been continued by the previous government.

02:00I have received feedback from the Ministry of Communications,

02:04that the report is there and we will investigate it again.

02:11We will see if it is appropriate for us to bring it back to the Parliament

02:16or if it needs to be improved.

02:18The second step involves the management aspect,

02:22which is the smooth connection between the Ministry of Communications

02:29and the Ministry of Home Affairs

02:31to ensure that the issues faced by the people,

02:35where sometimes the complainants will go to the police station

02:40to file a police report,

02:42then they are asked to file a report at the Ministry of Communications

02:45and the Ministry of Home Affairs asks them to file a police report

02:48and the process is repeated.

02:50This issue has been identified and the Ministry of Communications

02:53and the Ministry of Home Affairs,

02:54especially the Criminal Investigation Department,

02:57have agreed to investigate

03:01and simplify the process of filing a police report for the complainants.

03:07At the same time, the Prime Minister has said

03:13that he is not satisfied with the cyberbullying incidents

03:22and he has asked the Ministry of Communications and the Ministry of Home Affairs

03:26to take a firm action

03:28and we need to stop the cyberbullying from happening.

03:33I have informed the Ministry of Communications and the Ministry of Home Affairs

03:40that they need to take responsibility

03:44and they are ready to cooperate with the Ministry of Communications

03:50to solve this issue

03:52and they will meet with us next week.

03:59No decisions have been made?

04:02No, I have just updated the Cabinet

04:06that we do have some studies

04:08but we are not at a stage where we will recommend

04:12or will bring that bill to Parliament yet.

04:16So we need to look back at what that study said

04:20and perhaps because it was done some years ago,

04:24perhaps it needs to be updated.

04:26At the same time, we can take action now

04:29based on the current laws

04:31and at the same time we can also amend the current laws

04:34to make certain provisions more specific

04:36when it comes to cyberbullying.

Govt to study need for stronger laws to curb cyberbullying, says Fahmi

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