KUALA LUMPUR: The government may introduce a law to deal with racist and sensitive comments on online news portals and social media.
Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo (pix) said this was among the measures he feels his ministry should take into account following the Yang di-pertuan Agong, Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah’s first address in the second session of the 14th Parliament, where he said the government must take strict action against those who abuse freedom of expression and cause disharmony.
“The government is still studying the possibility of introducing a new law to curb this matter or making amendments to the existing law so that it will be more effective in addressing issues of racism, religious hate crime and offensive messages on the monarchy. These are among the aspects we are looking into now,“ he said at the Parliament lobby here today.
Gobind pointed out that the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) found that the “comment” section of some online news portal was being abused by social media users with postings of sensitive comments.
“In this matter, I think we all should take responsibilities. Some of the online news portals have the ‘comment’ section below their news articles.
However the section is very vulnerable and can be easily misused with one sensitive comment. There’s no monitoring happening in regards with the situation,“ he added.
He said unity among the races and public order in the country should be given top priority.
“Any actions or activities which can affect harmony among the various races such as insulting any religions or races, which could threaten national security, should be contained and have stern actions taken against the offenders immediately,” he said.
