Parliament only allowed to place legitimate restrictions on freedom of expression as set out in the Constitution.

KUALA LUMPUR: The Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) has called on the government to consult with stakeholders, including civil society, on any proposed amendments to the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 (CMA).

CIJ, in addition, condemns any attempts to further curb the freedom of expression and calls on the government to amend the CMA so that it moves towards international standards on freedom of expression, rather than away from them.

Other laws such as the Penal Code and the Sedition Act have also repeatedly been used to arrest and charge individuals for comments that they have posted online, said CIJ Directors Sonia Randhawa and Jac Kee. It is thus puzzling why the government requires more laws to purportedly improve control over social media.

The CIJ was expressing its grave concerns on the announcement by Communications and Multimedia Minister Ahmad Shabery Cheek on the intention to amend the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 (CMA) to improve enforcement and governance of social media.

The CMA, noted CIJ, was frequently used to curb freedom of expression on the internet and contains clauses which are unreasonably wide and open to misinterpretation and abuse. Section 233, for instance, makes it an offence to post any content which is obscene, indecent, false, menacing or offensive in character with the intention to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass another person.

This clause is extremely wide and goes beyond the legitimate restrictions that are allowed to be placed on the freedom of expression by Parliament, as set out in the Constitution, warned CIJ. While posting content that annoys, someone may be rude or undesirable in certain contexts, but it should not constitute an offence punishable with a hefty fine and/or imprisonment.

CIJ has repeatedly called for the clause to be repealed in order to comply with the Constitution and international human rights standards on freedom of expression.

Ahmad Shabery Cheek told Parliament on Thursday that communication laws will be amended to further curb the increasing number of cases involving the abuse of the Internet and social media.

Ahmad Shabery said his ministry would be amending the Communications and Multimedia Act, and Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission Act, especially provisions related to governance and enforcement.

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CIJ against further curbs on freedom of speech