Greater Freedom in the Cyberspace? An Analysis of the Regulatory Regime of the Internet in Malaysia

• Main Author: Nazli, Ismail@Nawang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: K Law (General); KZ Law of Nations
• Online Access: http://eprints.unisza.edu.my/4868/1/FH02-FLAIR-15-03129.pdf; http://eprints.unisza.edu.my/4868/
• Institution: Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin

Malaysia’s move into the Information Age of the 21st century began as early as 1996 with the formulation of the National IT Agenda (NITA) and the subsequent development of the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) Malaysia, the country’s version of Silicon Valley. In order to attract investment and support from the world’s most renowned ICT and multimedia companies in developing the gigantic project and to address the scepticism of investors and competition from Singapore and other countries in the Southeast Asia, the government has issued a set of Bill of Guarantees in 1997 which among others indicates the government’s commitment towards no censorship of the Internet. This assertion is then incorporated into section 3(3) of the Communication and Multimedia Act 1998 (CMA) which explicitly provides that ‘Nothing in this Act shall be construed as permitting the censorship of the Internet’. In line with this declaration, certain quarters in the country believe that the Internet users are entitled to a greater freedom in the cyberspace as the Internet seems to be not subjected to any shackles of rules and regulations. Nonetheless, the blocking of several websites by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) and the prosecution of a number of online offenders has shown that such belief is unfounded and baseless. In relation to this, the study seeks to examine the interplay between the no censorship policy and the regulatory regime that has been adopted to regulate the Internet industry in Malaysia. In so doing, the study will conduct critical analysis of the primary sources of law which are to be found in statutes and cases, as well as the secondary sources including text books, scholarly articles from refereed journals and seminar papers presented at relevant conferences.